Customer Story: factory worker, Gujarat

For the past 2 years, this customer has been working at a pump manufacturing company as a daily wage laborer. He earns Rs. 500 per day for his 12 hour shift (8:30 am - 8:30 pm). His brother works as a security guard while his mother works at a local milk company, where her job is to keep a track of the milk vans that are dispatched on a daily basis.

As a family, they are coming together to contribute to a loan from MHFC so that they can move into a Rs. 7.8 lakh 1 BHK flat in Ahmedabad.

Customer Story: vegetable seller, Ahmedabad

Vegetable vendor in Ahmedabad. She has been living on rent for the past 15 years, paying rent of Rs. 2,000 per month.

Along with her retired husband and 18-year-old son, she applied to MHFC for a Rs. 3 lakh home loan. By paying an EMI of Rs. 3,000 - although 50% more than her monthly rent - the applicant will be moving closer towards home ownership.

Home loans for SMC / AMC / GHB customers

MHFC has already sanctioned hundreds of loans for informal sector families who are buying flats in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (“AMC”), Surat Municipal Corporation (“SMC”) & Gujarat Housing Board (“GHB”) projects. We plan to continue supporting customers who have little or no income documentation by helping them buy EWS / LIG / MIG flats in approved affordable housing projects throughout Gujarat. 

Below are some pictures of MHFC representatives and loan officers at credit camps in Ahmedabad and Surat 

MHFC would be very willing to support successful AMC / SMC / GHB allottees who require a loan and are from our segment (financially excluded lower income families) subject to terms and conditions. For more details on loans available, please call our branch manager in Surat (Jignesh Patel on 9016507947) or our branch manager in Ahmedabad (Kashyap Patel – 9925045276). Alternatively, you could email us on contact@mhfcindia.com.

DBS Launches New Project - Umang Vatwa

On 26th June 2014, affordable housing company DBS (Design Build Serve) announced a new project named "Umang Vatwa" that will be built in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

The project will provide both 1 RK and 2RK flats, starting at INR 4.99 lakh. Located close to the railway station and providing modern amenities which include 24/7 water supply, Umang Vatwa is the latest project from DBS that Micro Housing Finance Corporation will partner with to provide housing finance solutions to customers. More information about the project can be found here.

Customers looking for finance options can contact our Manager Kashyap Patel on 9925045276 to check MHFC loan terms and conditions, availability and  general inquiries.

Bookings for the project opened on 12th July 2014. For more information about the project, call the toll free number: 1800-123-6007

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel cancels Gujarat Housing Board draw for affordable houses

Just a follow up story that the Gujarat Housing Board draw for 8,000 flats (in Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara) were cancelled yesterday - see link to article in the DNA below:

DNA article - June 20, 2014

Draw today for 2,584 Gujarat Housing Board houses

Per this TOI article - see link below - today is the draw for GHB houses across 4 cities - Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot.  

TOI article - June 15, 2014

Of course, these will be approved projects for MHFC and we will finance successful allottees who require a loan and are from our segment (financially excluded lower income families) subject to terms and conditions. 

For more details, please email us on contact@mhfcindia.com.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's LIG housing schemes soon

Per this TOI article - see link below - a package of 1,888 houses is expected to come up in the Vatva area of Ahmedabad. Overall,  4,937 LIG houses in the coming year in various areas of the city - 29 locations - including Vejalpur, Nikol, Chandkheda, Chandlodia, Thaltej, Kali, Vadaj, Vastral, Kankaria, Shahibag areas. 

TOI article - Jan 21, 2014

Of course, these will be approved projects for MHFC and we will finance successful allottees who require a loan and are from our segment (financially excluded lower income families) subject to terms and conditions. 

For more details, please email us on contact@mhfcindia.com.

Tata Housing signs MOU with Gujarat govt for construction of affordable homes

Today's news article re Tata Housing MOU with Gujarat govt - the company is already a partner of MHFC and in fact had given us a reservation of flats for our customers (financially excluded, informal sector typically) on its last Ahmedabad project.

Hindu Business Line news article 

Tata Housing New Haven Compact - Ahmedabad

Tata Housing launches its next phase in its affordable housing project in Ahmedabad - called New Haven Compact - for info, prices start at 12.4 lakhs for a 1 BHK home.

For detailed info, see company's website:
New Haven Compact - Tata Housing link

This is an automatically approved project for MHFC - and we will finance buyers from our segment (subject to our terms and conditions). For more details, please see MHFC website or call our officer in Ahmedabad - Atul Vaishyak on 9067336929 - or email us on contact@mhfcindia.com

Tata Housing raises prices by 26% in 5 months

see link to article below re Phase II of Tata Housing project in Ahmedabad

Tata Housing article

Home loan enquiries for TATA ShubhGriha Ahmedabad

Please fill the form for your loan enquiries

Tata Shubh Griha Ahmedabad Enquiry

Tata Shubh Griha Ahmedabad - allotment

Tata Housing has just declared the allotment of the 950 Shubh Griha flats (1 RK / 1 BHK) being sold at its new Ahmedabad project through a public lottery, which was heavily oversubscribed.

For a list of the successful applicants, please click on
Tata Shubh Griha Ahmedabad allottees

and for more information, news article below
Hindu Business Line article on lottery results

Of course, this is an approved project for MHFC and hence, we will finance successful allottees (subject to terms and conditions - for more details, please call our officer in Ahmedabad - Atul Vaishyak on 9067336929 - or email us on contact@mhfcindia.com).

Those who have not been able to apply or have been unsuccessful in the lottery process, but fit MHFC criteria of allotment (need financing upto 80% of cost, financially excluded, buying for primary residence use and not as an investment) can apply under the MHFC special quota (of 100 flats) from Tata Housing, which we will be allotting on a first come first served basis.

Tata Shubh Griha Ahmedabad oversubscribed - DNA article

Tata Housing has closed its application process for its Shubh Griha project in Ahmedabad in just 15 days. It is believed to have sold close to 10,000 forms for the 1,000 approx flats on offer - a huge success reflecting the demand for quality low income housing priced at approx 10 lakhs and of course a project by a highly reputed group.

DNA article on Tata Shubh Griha oversubscription

Those who have not been able to apply through the lottery process or feel unsure of allotment, and fit MHFC criteria of allotment (need financing upto 80% of cost, financially excluded, buying for primary residence use and not as an investment) can apply under the MHFC special quota (of 100 flats) from Tata Housing, which we will be allotting on a first come first served basis.

For more details, please call our officers in Ahmedabad - Atul Vaishyak on 9067336929 - or email us on contact@mhfcindia.com

Tata Housing Shubh Griha - Ahmedabad launch / MHFC quota

Tata Housing has just announced its next Shubh Griha project - which is typically aimed at the lower middle income / informal sector - in Ahmedabad - with 1 RK, 1 BHK and 1.5 BHK flats in the range of 293 sqft to 457 sqft (carpet area), priced between Rs 7.92 lakh and Rs 12.33 lakh.

For more information, please see links to the company website / press announcements below:
Shubh Griha website
Tata Housing Press Release
Hindu Business Line article

Like its earlier similar projects in Vashind and Boisar, flats are being sold through a public lottery and is expected to be oversubscribed several times over.

This will of course be an approved project for MHFC and we will finance successful allotees (subject to our terms and conditions). For more details, please see our website www.mhfcindia.com or call our officer in Ahmedabad - Atul Vaishyak on 9067336929 - or email us on contact@mhfcindia.com

Like in Vashind, MHFC also has been given a special quota by Tata Housing of 100 flats (80 1 RK / 20 1 BHK) on the project (which we will be allotting on a first come first served basis) so interested buyers who meet our criteria (first time buyers who need a primary residence / financially excluded) can call our officers for a chance to get an allotment.

Ahmedabad - Dhul Dhoyas

interesting news story on an unusual profession - the gold "dhul dhoyas" of Ahmedabad - they pay about 6,000 a month for the "privilege" of sweeping gold from the streets of the gold markets (Manek Chowk and Ratan Pol) - and earn about 15,000 a month from selling this to wholesale buyers of gold dust - they even buy the clothes of the gold labourers (some of whom are MHFC clients) who dont change their work clothes for weeks and then exchange it for cash and new clothes from the dhoyas.
Mint Article

Credit Camp for DBS / Saath customers

Link to write up and video of the credit camp for Saath customers of the DBS Umang project in Ahmedabad (held in June).
http://dbs.avbodh.org/creditcamp.aspx

C ben

Last week we held a credit camp for the Saath customers of the DBS "Umang" project in Ahmedabad (almost 50% or about 150 bookings have been reserved for Saath customers who are typically from the LIG informal sector). It was inspiring for us to meet and listen to their stories - in terms of how they have struggled to make a living despite very difficult conditions, and now that they feel fairly settled monetarily, they would like to take the next step in buying a permanent home. The customers we met ranged from a family of tailors, to vegetable vendors, to maalis and waiters. But 1 couple stood out. The husband was fairly quiet, and the one who did all the talking was the wife - "C" ben. She worked at an NGO - for over 15 years - earning about Rs 5000 per month. She also gave tuitions to slum children for 2 hours every day at a programme organised by IIM Ahmedabad - earning another Rs 2000 per month. Her husband was a driver - working for about 16 years for 1 employer - and was earning about Rs 6000 per month. Total family income was about 13,000. They had made a booking for the bigger 2 RK flat (which cost about Rs 6 lakhs) and sought a loan from MHFC of about Rs 5.5 lakhs. While in any case this was not a possible loan from MHFC as we require a 20% client margin (1.2 lakhs), in any case the EMI (approx 7,000) would be unaffordable for the family from our point of view. We advised that we could not support her request, but would happily support if they bought the smaller 1 RK flat (which cost about Rs 3.5 lakhs). Initially, they were not very pleased and we had a long discussion on the affordability. But eventually she also realised that buying the larger flat would place a huge financial pressure on the family. Finally, she agreed to switch to the smaller flat and take a smaller loan of approx Rs 3 lakhs and pay an EMI of approx Rs 4,000 - but not without trying to negotiate for everything - the down payment required, the loan tenor, the pricing !

DBS Housing Blog

link to blog by Bala, Director, DBS Affordable Housing - it has information on the launch of the project in Ahmedabad - which saw about 2000 visitors on opening day.

http://dbscommunities.blogspot.com/

New Project - Ahmedabad - DBS

We met with DBS Housing on Friday. This is a new company - formed by a team of professionals who are passionate about creating homes for lower income families. Their approach is bottom up - in that their plan for a township in Ahmedabad (near Vatva) is based on views from the community - and after a lot of research on needs of expected end users. In fact, they have a tie up with Saath (http://www.saath.org/saath/index.php) which works very closely with communities in Ahmedabad slums to provide integrated solutions in health, education, basic infrastructure, job training etc - and who will spread the word on this project. This is exciting for us as it will probably ensure that buyers on the project will be mostly end users from our target segment - lower income families from the informal sector.
The project opens on May 2 - about 1400 flats (1 RK, 1 BHK and 2 BHK) on offer - price range starting 3, 5, 7 lakhs in each category. It has been conditionally approved by MHFC - final approval will be after receipt of all planning permissions. Our LOs will be on site for the opening to take details of prospective buyers.
More details on DBS and the project on their website - link below:
http://www.dbsaffordablehomes.com/index_files/Page304.htm

Ahmedabad Trip

Ahmedabad has an interesting city dynamic – rural in the outskirts and quite urban in the heart of the city. A lot of land available at affordable prices in the outskirts, coupled with higher FSI translates into decent margins for builders even in the low-cost to affordable housing segments. In spite of that, there are hardly any projects coming up in this segment. Like Mumbai, Ahmedabad also faces problems due to excessive migration to urban areas, so demand is not the issue. But demand for housing is more of an aspiration without purchasing power – an empirical proof to our belief at MHFC – Lack of financing is the major cause for the lack of low-cost housing in cities today.

Ahmedabad was one of the first cities Monitor had started experimenting with its social change initiative. It was quite evident that they had made a lot of progress in terms of relationships with builders as well as building a database of prospective customers.

After we landed in the morning, we saw three plots that were shortlisted by developers for starting their projects – each of roughly 2000 flats in the affordable segment (sub 5lakh category). On one of the plots, the builder was in final stages of getting approvals and had a mock apartment built already. We met a couple of prospective customers on site along with DSAs appointed by Monitor, to get a feel of the consumer psyche. Their aspirations were quite different from their counterparts in Mumbai. They wanted the 1BHK flat though it was slightly above their affordability. Their argument – this flat would be a once-in-a-lifetime investment, so they wanted something big enough for their family. When we asked why they would not go for the smaller 1RK today and wait for a couple of years till their salaries increased, they felt, 1BHK would always be a little outside their reach even then, with rising property prices. So it made sense to invest in that today, and live within means to service the higher EMIs – not something we could deny; though I feel they looked at this project as a one-off, not realizing that if this pilot did work, competition would eventually keep a check on both property prices and loan interest rates.

Overall, it was a morally satisfying trip, and I left the city feeling reinforced as far as our belief was concerned – the lack of housing in cities should have a market driven commercially sustainable solution.