DLF hastens 9-acre housing projects

Defying slowing and recessionary tendencies in the country’s realty sector, property building major, DLF in a recent development has delivered luxury housing units worth Rs.200 crore in its project in Gurugram. The company is developing about 750 apartments in the nearly 9 acre luxury housing project 'The Crest', launched in the recent past and expected to be completed this year. Currently, DLF has a total area of 18.5 million square feet under construction in various housing projects, and it is targeting the completion of about 15-16 million sq.ft by the end of this year, thereby creating finished stocks amid slow sales in the residential segment. It may be recalled that the real estate sector, particularly the housing segment, is facing a multi-year slowdown and the demand declined further post the demonetization. The luxury housing segment was affected the most as those transactions involved a larger proportion of cash component. However, the residential market, particularly the affordable housing segment, has started to recover gradually from January this year, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Ashok Tyagi said, adding that the company will invest about Rs.3,500 crore this year to complete construction of almost all of its already announced housing projects.