mumbai the affordable housing segment is expected to continue to drive the real estate sector in 2018 with several developers and institutional funds eyeing opportunities in this space led by better returns the enduser demand in this segment along with the governments thrust through incentives such as granting infrastructure status is ensuring a rising appetite for such projects across the countrythe established developers are expected to expand their scope of business categories for instance some branded developers catering to the ultraluxury segment expanded their focus on compact efficient boutique homes for high and midlevel income category of buyers a trend that is expected to gain further momentumwith both regulatory and taxation policies in the form of real estate regulation development act 2016 and goods services tax gst in place property development environment will be stable and make the business a more standard process2017 was a precursor to the muchneeded stability of the residential market as seen in the nature of launches which was led by affordable housing the sector is likely to continue realigning itself to end users demands well into 2018 said anshul jain md india cushman wakefield with rera in place the end users interest in the residential sector will become positive as investments will be legally protected and there would be commitment on timely delivery from developerswith only the affordable housing segment seeing a rise in launches in 2017 the new unit launches in residential saw a decline of 35 the total estimated new residential units were around 74000 across indias top eight cities with mumbai constituting nearly 31 of these followed by pune with 15 of all launches affordable housing saw a yoy growth of 6 with mumbai leading the trend showed cushman wakefield data based on the response for three of our major launches in navi mumbai and jodhpur between february and november we can clearly say that the end user demand has been robust with interest rates at almost its decadelow level and pradhan mantri awas yojana pmay benefits we expect affordable housing to continue providing the muchneeded momentum to realty sales in 2018 as well said ashok chhajer cmd arihant superstructuresthe developer is working on 3 more launches including one in january itself after selling over 850 apartments priced between 20 lakh and 50 lakh in its projects launched in 2017even as developers grappled with the impact of business fundamentals such as rera and gst over their business the governments clarity on the definition of affordable housing and its benefits led to this growth the velocity of project cash flows is much higher in affordable housing compared to conventional real estate as most units are sold out long before they are constructed this translates into better risk adjusted returns for investors it is possible to realise over 20 internal rate of returns irr consistently across market cycles said rajesh krishnan ceo brick eagle that funds and incubates startups in the affordable housing space with projects in 4 statesprime minister