Real estate sector will bounce back soon, says minister

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS) Now that the government has brought real estate under a regulatory framework, it is likely to bounce back soon from its present state of slump, Union Minister of State (MoS) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

"The real estate sector has run into some problems for various reasons, but I have reasons to believe that this sector will soon bounce back," Puri said at an event organised here by the ministry on the occasion of World Habitat Day.

"The government has brought real estate under a regulatory framework in the interest of the sector," he added.

He said the Narendra Modi government had taken several initiatives to give a boost to the housing sector and in particular to affordable housing to meet the housing needs of the people.

"The government is committed to ensuring a decent living habitat for all in urban areas and in particular for the poor and has taken various initiatives in this regard," he said, adding that new urban missions launched during the last three years constituted an "integrated urban habitat model".

The minister said the new urban missions launched by the government, like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), were at the core of ensuring affordable homes to the poor and the needy while other missions, like the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), aimed at enabling the much needed basic infrastructure for a decent habitat.

Under PMAY (Urban), the ministry had so far approved construction of 28,57,321 affordable homes for economically weaker sections, low and middle income groups with an investment of Rs 1,54,180 crore. Central assistance of Rs 44,278 crore had been approved for these houses, Puri said.