Housing crisis? Stalled projects surge in UP, Greater Noida and Noida lead

The data shows that 378 projects, comprising a total of 1.46 lakh units, are currently delayed across Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, and Agra.

Five major property markets in Uttar Pradesh, including Noida and Greater Noida, have 378 stalled housing projects, comprising nearly 1.46 lakh units, according to PropEquity, a real estate data analytics firm. 

As many as 378 housing projects comprising 1,45,880 units are stalled across Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

Key Findings:

• Noida and Greater Noida Lead: Greater Noida has the highest number of stalled projects with 167, followed by Noida with 103.
• Delays Across Cities: All five major cities in Uttar Pradesh have faced delays in housing projects.
• Widespread Impact: Over 1.98 lakh units are affected by stalled projects across 42 cities in India.
• Tier I Cities Dominate: 1,636 stalled projects, totaling 4.32 lakh units, are located in 14 tier I cities.

PropEquity's analysis points to several factors contributing to the delays:

• Lack of Execution Capabilities: Developers may face challenges in executing projects efficiently.
• Cash Flow Management: Mismanagement of cash flow can hinder project completion.
• Diversion of Funds: Developers might divert funds towards acquiring new land banks or paying off other loans.

As per the data from PropEquity, Greater Noida has 167 stalled projects with 74,645 units.

Noida has 103 stalled housing projects comprising 41,438 units, while Ghaziabad witnessing 50 stalled projects with 15,278 units.

Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad are important property markets in the Delhi-NCR.

Lucknow -- the capital of Uttar Pradesh -- too has 48 stalled housing projects comprising 13,024 units.

Agra property market has 10 stalled projects with only 1,495 units.

Overall, PropEquity data showed that 1,981 residential projects are stalled across 42 cities, totalling 5.08 lakh units.

Of these stalled projects, as many as 1,636 projects totalling 4,31,946 units are in 14 tier I cities, while 345 projects with 76,256 units are in 28 tier II cities.

Greater Noida, among tier I cities, saw the highest proportion of stalled units at 17% (74,645 units in 167 projects), followed by Thane and Gurugram with 13% (57,520 units in 186 projects) and 12% (52,509 units in 158 projects) respectively. Mumbai has the maximum number of 234 stalled projects having 37,883 units followed by Bengaluru with 225 projects comprising 39,908 units and Thane with 186 projects.

Kolkata has 82 projects with 24,174 units; Chennai has 92 stalled projects with 21,867 units and Hyderabad has 25 projects with 6,169 units. Pune has 172 stalled projects comprising 24,129 units.

The government established the Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Fund in 2019 to address stalled projects. The fund has raised Rs 15,530 crore to complete these projects. Despite the funding, only around 32,000 units have been completed in the last five years. The SWAMIH Fund aims to deliver 20,000 homes annually for the next three years. However, despite the significant funding, the completion rate of stalled projects through SWAMIH has been relatively slow. The number of stalled projects continues to grow, adding to the challenges faced by homebuyers.

PropEquity founder and CEO Samir Jasuja pointed out that the problem of stalled projects is due to the lack of execution capabilities of developers, cash-flow mismanagement and diversion of funds to buy new land banks or retire other loans.

PE Analytics Ltd, which is listed on the NSE stock exchange, owns and operates PropEquity, which covers over 1.7 lakh projects of more than 57,000 developers across 44 cities in India.

Recently, PropEquity  started a new business vertical 'PropAlert' to provide regular updates to homebuyers about the progress of construction activities in housing projects.

Through this new service, PropEquity seeks to safeguard the interests of homebuyers after purchasing under-construction properties.

With inputs from PTI