Affordable housing to be given Infra status; Ashiana Housing, Puravankara rise up to 15%

NEW DELHI: With an aim to achieve housing for all by 2020, finance minister on Wednesday said that the affordable housing will be given infrastructural status which will be positive for stocks like Ashiana, Housing, Puravankara. The move will reduce costs for developers and attract investors.

It would also mean higher demand for loans which would be positive for housing finance companies like Gruh Finance, as well as Repco Home Finance.

"Infrastructure status to the affordable housing segment will mean lower borrowing costs for the sector and thus addresses the margin issues that private players in this segment face," Nidhi Seksaria, Advisory Partner & Leader - Real Estate, BDO India LLP.

"The combined with interest subventions, this could be a big step in making housing more affordable," he said.

Ashiana Housing was trading 15 per cent higher to Rs 163 while Puravankara was up 3 per cent. In the housing finance companies, Gruh Finance was up 1.4 per cent while Repco Home Finance was up nearly 2 per cent.

The S&P BSE Realty index was 1.4 per cent higher, led by gains in Unitech which was up 3 per cent, followed by Oberoi Realty rose 2.7 per cent and Godrej Properties was up 1.8 per cent.