One of the best kept secrets of Indian real estate is out

The Economic Survey for the last financial year states: “Data shows that the first claim upon the savings of households is physical assets such as GOLD and real estate.”

That Indians love their 'real estate' would be like stating the obvious. But sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious as well. Why? That will soon become clear.

AkhileshTilotia, a thematic research analyst with the institutional equities arm of the Kotak Mahindra Group, makes a very interesting point in his new book The Making of India—Gamechanging Transitions. As he writes: “Thanks to its love for real estate INVESTMENTS, India is in a curious position of having more houses than it has households.”

This becomes clear from the Census 2011 data. “India's households increased by 60 million to 247 million from 187 million between 2001-2011. Reflecting India's higher 'physical' savings, the number of houses went up by 81 million to 331 million from 250 million. The urban increases is telling: 38 million new houses for 24 million new households,” writes Tilotia.

So what is happening here? One explanation for the number of houses rising faster than the number of households may lie in the fact that houses are being bought as INVESTMENT and not to be lived in. What this means is that many Indians own more than one house and then there are many more who do not own any, because prices are way beyond what they can afford. Further, given our penchant for owning real estate, a lot of real estate is being built sheerly from the point of view of fulfilling INVESTMENT demand.

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