Increased FAR gives real estate a boost

The all important government has very recently given a go ahead to spike floor area ratio [FAR] and the ground coverage for all houses in Delhi. The move has come as a fresh lease of life for one and all. Developers are obviously an extremely happy lot as they now get bonus space for constructing their projects. Real estate industry has welcomed the increased FAR with open arms citing that the move will lead to fulfillment of the governments vision of providing a dream home for one and all by the end of year 2022.

Under the purview of the new scheme, for all the Delhi properties the immensely crucial ground coverage has been hiked from the prevailing 40% to a staggering 50%. On the other hand, for any and every residential plot of size 750 sq.m and more, the floor area ratio will now be calculated to an increased 200% from the prevailing 150%, while for all properties whose size is 1000 sq.m or higher, FAR will be 200% rather than the currently used 120%. As a result the face of Indian real estate is all set to change for the way better.

Floor area ratio (FAR) is a highly crucial parameter which has to be taken into account while developing or buying a home. FAR in simple words, is nothing but the ratio between the structure’s cumulative floor area to that of the cumulative size of the plot on which the structure has been developed. In other words, it is the cumulative area covered in each and every floor of the building on a given area of plot.

For instance, if the FAR of a building is 5, then the total area of construction will be 5 times that of the gross size of the plot. Therefore FAR which is on the higher side will signify higher density of construction and vice versa. So obviously a higher FAR leads to a high value of the given property.

In the past few decades, urbanization has increased at a fairly rapid pace, thus putting immensely high pressure on the limited land available for construction. As the prevailing FAR is considerably low, the real estate faced a massive crunch and was therefore unable to meet the ever growing demand for residential living spaces. As a result the gap between demand and supply widened. But with the increase in FAR limits, realty developers will be able to build bigger and better structures which can accommodate many more people and families. Thus the impending problem of the gap between demand and supply will be resolved to a large extent.

Therefore buyers who have bought their dream homes with comparatively lower FAR will now be able to expand and tailor make their homes as per their needs. The resale value of such plots will also significantly go up, leading to higher return on investments. So as the move will lead to an increased supply of homes, it will go a long way to establish and fulfill the glorious mission of home for one and all by 2022 or maybe even sooner.