A Strong Case For Chennai's Rental Housing Market
Bureaucracy Today|April 1 - 30 2017

Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, has grown exponentially in recent decades. Employment, education, opportunities and lifestyle are the magnets that keep pulling people into Chennai from all directions of India. This naturally has a profound impact on the demand for rental housing in the city.

Simon Selvaraj
A Strong Case For Chennai's Rental Housing Market

A massive urban churn has turned out to be an intrinsic part of life for most of Chennai’s residents today. The total number of migrants into the urban areas of Tamil Nadu, as per 2011 census, comes to 12.3 million. Of this, around 47% of the migrants have a duration of residence between 0 and nine years. Thus, a fair portion of citizens in Chennai are tenants who do not necessarily want to buy flats to live in the city.

Rental housing allows the residents to opt for a higher standard of living than their property purchasing power. A new apartment in the CBD of Chennai will cost about Rs. 75 lakhs, while a person earning about Rs. 10 lakhs per annum can afford a home costing Rs. 60 lakhs in the more affordable suburban location of the city. However, such an individual can afford a CBD-based home on rent within the same annual income. This makes it possible for a denizen of the MIG (middle income group) to live in a HIG (higher income group) flat, while an LIG (lower income group) individual can comfortably afford to live in a MIG flat.

Chennai continues to be an expensive city to buy property. An average increase in property prices by 6-7% from last year has further constrained the affordability of owning a house. However, the rental trends in Chennai have seen only 2.5-5% annual increase over the past four-five years.

Paying rent saves one’s taxable income as almost the whole portion of the rent paid can be saved by claiming it under Section 10 of the IT Act as HRA. Offering greater flexibility and requiring less of a financial stretch than home ownership, renting is most common among young adults in whose lives changes in work and relationships are frequent.

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