NEW DELHI: Nearly 2.74 lakh flat buyers who invested their hard-earned money in affordable and mid-income residential properties are yet to get their dream homes as the realty projects are stalled across the country.
As per government data, the total value of such stalled projects is nearly Rs 1.88 lakh crore. Worse, such customers are forced to pay instalments and interests out of the investments they have made towards such properties even as they are to get their homes.
Concerned over the large amount of common people’s money stuck in such projects, the government last year had announced setting up of a Rs 25,000-crore bailout fund to finance such stalled housing projects. NCR and Mumbai region tops the list when it comes to such housing projects.
Of the total 1.99 lakh flats in stalled projects of NCR area, 1.50 lakh are sold and the remaining 49,000 are yet to find buyers. Mumbai region has a total of 97,280 flats in stalled projects out of which 45,559 are sold. Bengaluru comes third with 38,947 such flats and Chennai is fourth position with 18,065 flats.
As per the government study, there are nearly 2,200 stuck housing projects comprising 4.58 lakh flats under affordable and mid-income segment. The data disclosed that total 2.74 lakh flats are already sold to people and nearly 1.83 lakh are lying unsold. While total value of all these stalled projects is estimated around Rs 3.27 lakh crore, the value of those residential properties in which the people have invested money stands at nearly `1.88 lakh crore.
Of the Rs 25,000 crore bailout fund announced by the finance ministry, the government will put in Rs 10,000 crore in Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) while SBI and LIC will provide the remaining Rs 15,000 crore.
The government has said that the AIF can be utilised even by the projects which were declared non-performing assets or are facing insolvency proceedings. The fund aims to last-mile finance to enable completion of construction of stalled housing.