Asset Homes plans housing projects for youth and senior citizens

In a bid to come out of the demonetisation woes, Kerala-based builder Asset Homes has lined up new initiatives to cater to different segments of people including the youth and the senior citizens.

It has come out with a unique plan for constructing 100 sq ft self-contained units christened `selfie apartments' in different cities in the country. At a cost under Rs 10 lakh, these air conditioned apartments are being proposed at Kochi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Vishakapattanam.

``This is to fulfil the dream of youth to have a home along with the first job. Cities like Pune have developed into an education hub where there will be lot of demand for such apartments,'' said V Sunil Kumar, managing director of Asset Homes.

For senior citizens, Asset Homes has planned apartments called `Assisted Living' at Tiruvalla, Vaikam and Wadakkenchery in Kerala. `` We have designed it in such a way that it will take care of needs of the senior citizens at different stages of life starting from 55 to 60 years,'' Sunil Kumar said.

Yet another venture will be affordable housing in ten cities, encouraged by the sops in the recent Union Budget for this category. These projects are proposed at Coimbatore, Erode, Tirunelveli, Hosur, Vijayawada, Vishakapattanam, Hubli, Belgaum, Mangalore and Tiruchirappally. `` The projects will have a cost of Rs 25 lakh. We did not consider Kerala as such ventures are not possible in the state given the high land prices,'' he said.

The construction of the new projects will be taken up in the next fiscal year and is expected to be completed before three years. The company, which has gone for a logo change, now has 20 different housing projects in 14 locations across Kerala.

Post-demonetisation, he admitted that there was a slump in the activities in the realty sector. `` However, things are improving now. There are lot of enquiries but conversion rate is still low. People seem to be waiting for further drop in the bank interest rates,'' he said adding that only genuine builders are surviving.