Ashiana Housing NSE 3.68 %, a mid-income housing developer focused on tier 2 cities, plans to invest Rs 345 crore in developing housing units across multiple cities as Covid-19 has shifted demand towards smaller cities, a top company executive told.
The company will invest in Bhiwadi, Jaipur, and Jodhpur in Rajasthan and also Jamshedpur and Chennai. In all, the company will develop around 1.3 million sq ft.
“There is a lot of demand for senior living and kid centric homes and they are part of our expansion plan,” said Ankur Gupta, joint managing director, Ashiana Housing. “Some of the construction plans have been advanced as there is a demand from this segment in tier 2 cities.”
Ashiana already had a presence in these cities and now they are monetizing the available land bank. The company is relying on sales from high rises to fund the projects.
“The work will commence within this financial year. With people working from home, we are getting a lot of requests from cities like Jaipur. Also, we will develop 11 lakh sq ft in Pune and are finalising the process,” Gupta added.
According to research by Housing.com, reverse migration of the corporate workforce and increased flexibility due to remote working is driving the residential demand in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which has been so far limited to the top eight cities of India.
Cities such as Agra and Amritsar witnessed an impressive growth of more than 100% in the virtual residential demand over pre-Covid times, while cities of Vadodara, Ludhiana, Mangaluru, Chandigarh and Lucknow saw more than 80% growth in residential demand during the same period.
Ashiana said the demand for senior living in the wake of the pandemic has increased as elders are concerned about health issues. The company has projects in nine cities across India and has constructed and delivered over 23 million sq ft.
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