Uttar Pradesh reels under inventory of Rs 1,43,000 crore unsold housing units

LUCKNOW: The realty sector is reeling under a burgeoning inventory of unsold housing units in Uttar Pradesh valued at over Rs 1,43,000 crore, but the state government is clueless on how to tide over the crisis.

Since three years, the real estate sector is facing an unprecedented slowdown after witnessing a boom for years.
Unsold housing units continue to stack up in both government and private sector housing and have become a cause of concern.Unperturbed and unmindful of the swelling inventory of unsold dwelling units, government housing agencies keep announcing new schemes, without thinking of ways to dispose of pending houses.
As many as 9,500 housing units of Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Board, with an estimated worth of over Rs 9,000 crore, are lying unsold.
Besides, various development authorities across the state have over 20,000 unsold houses with an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore. he Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), an umbrella body of private sector realtors, told TOI there are 21,000 and 1,82,000 unsold houses costing over Rs 10,600 crore and 1,14,000 crore in Lucknow and NCR region (including some parts out of UP also), respectively.
‘Govt agencies can’t cut cost of housing units to boost sales’
When contacted, principal secretary, housing, Deepak Kumar, said unsold dwelling units of the board and development authorities was a cause of concern.
He said unlike private sector, the government agencies cannot reduce the cost of units to sell them.
The government has its limitations and constraints, but policies would be worked out soon to sell unsold properties and ensure revenue and returns from the investment in them.
Kumar said the development authorities in state have a stock of about 20,000 unsold properties.
A former commissioner of Uttar Pradesh Housing and Development Board told TOI on condition of anonymity that the sale and investment in real estate sector may have suffered after demonetisation and is yet to recover from it.