Soham Group plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore in affordable housing

MUMBAI: Riding high on increasing demand for affordable houses, real estate developer Soham Group plans to invest around Rs 1,000-crore over the next 2-3 years for its future projects, a top company official said.

"A paradigm shift has been observed in the real estate market over the last few years. Apart from luxury homes, there has been a great demand for affordable houses. Considering this an opportunity for players like us, we have planned to invest around Rs 1,000-crore over the next 2-3 years," Soham Group's Chairman, Chaitanya Parekh, told PTI here.

The company has lined up 25 projects to be developed in the coming years, which will be primarily in Mumbai Metropolitan Region including Thane.

"At present, we are focusing on developing projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. However, our associate companies including Pruksa Luxora and Luxora Properties will be developing projects in other parts of Maharashtra," he said.

Soham has formed a joint venture with Pruksa Real Estate, a realty major with significant presence in the property market of Thailand, to develop around five township projects in Maharashtra in its first round of operations.

The company has also tied up with Mirah Group to build high-end iconic towers and luxury townships mainly beyond Thane and in Tier II cities of Maharashtra.

On its fund raising plans Parekh said, "the Group's solid financial backing consists of foreign direct equity investments (FDI) from the Bank of Scotland and Aanya Investment Management, a private equity firm."

He said the company may come out with an IPO later.