Land pooling policy to help increase housing supply in Delhi

Delhi's Land Pooling Policy is expected to unlock about 20,000-25,000 hectares of land for development, which is likely to boost housing supply and keep prices under control, according to real estate developers and property consultants.
Yesterday, the Urban Development Ministry had approved the regulations for land pooling policy in Delhi.
"With the government's notified operational guidelines for Land Pooling Schemes, Delhi may soon be able to unlock its potential for real estate development and infrastructure formation across almost 20,000 hectares of land concentrated across peripheral zones, CBRE South Asia CMD Anshuman Magazine said in a statement.
This is expected to expand Delhi's urban limits, while re-directing realty development from other NCR towns into the national capital, he added.

"This is also expected to mitigate Delhi's housing gap, especially in the affordable segment," Magazine said.
Realtors' apex body CREDAI-NCR President Manoj Gaur also welcomed the government's move, saying "this will open up a new property market in the national capital region."

He said there has been very few housing projects from the organised players in the Delhi market.
"The policy is estimated to unlock around 20,000-25,000 hectares of land across Delhi, primarily in the urban villages and smaller towns at the city's peripheries.
"Such development is likely to result in a healthy availability of residential dwelling units which will not only enable availability but also help in keeping a control on residential prices," said Rohan Sharma, Associate Director - Research & Real Estate Intelligence Service, JLL India.

CREDAI Western UP Vice President Amit Modi said this was much needed for housing landscape in Delhi.
"Not only will it bring in a massive infrastructure development drive in remote and peripheral areas of Delhi, but can also lead to a potential housing boom for the city and its residents, including the investor looking for affordable housing in the capital city," Modi added.
The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had approved the land pooling policy in 2013. The new policy allows land-owners to pool their land for development by DDA.
Land-owners would get some portion of land after development of infrastructure by DDA, which they can keep for themselves or give to private developers.

JLL said the idea behind the policy is to have private sector participation in land consolidation and development while the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) assumes a larger role of a facilitator.
This policy is likely to result in residential development projects across the prime city, which has an acute shortage of housing and where most of the housing needs are fulfilled by DDA, JLL added.