Coronavirus to derail affordable housing segment's growth momentum

Housing fears

Houses in the affordable segment (unit price less than Rs 40 lakh) will be the worst hit among the different categories impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, according to Anarock Property Consultants. Anarock’s latest report shows that almost 40 per cent of the new houses added across the top seven cities in the past few years were in the affordable segment and the 610,000 houses were under construction when the crisis hit the country and the globe. The current situation has sparked fears around income generation and employment which are going to put further strain on the sales. So, as and when the construction is completed, there will be piling up of the unsold inventory. “The target audience typically has limited income and unemployment fears currently loom large. This could result in deferred property purchase decisions in 2020 and ultimately derail the segments’ growth momentum. As a result, unsold affordable stock can rise by 1-2 per cent on a year-on-year basis,” said a statement. 

Future ready 

We have been talking about disruptions for quite some time but not even some of the most visionary leaders may have thought about a pandemic hitting businesses this severely as we are seeing currently. In a recent article penned by Glenn Steinberg, EY Global and EY Americas supply chain leader, the author has shared his viewpoints on a shock-proof supply chain for the future. In the piece, titled COVID-19: How to forge a supply chain that withstands severe shocks, Steinberg has written how to build resilient supply chains, enterprises should focus on building capabilities to help them prepare, sense and respond to future disruptive events. Investing in key supply chain capabilities, alternative supplier sourcing strategies, network flexibility and agile planning and putting a Plan B for disruptive events are some of the other takeaways from this piece available on the ey.com. It also advocates implementing risk monitoring and reporting tools, as well as an early warning system that enables a rapid early response to risks or disruptions.