Housing start-up index to be launched by end January: Girija Vyas

The Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Girija Vyaslaunched the Housing Start Up Index (HSUI) logo, web site and monitoring tool “Integrated Urban Poverty Monitoring System” (IPoMs) for JnNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana ( RAY).

What is a Housing Start-Up Index (HSUI)?

The Housing start up index (HSUI) is an index that tracks the number of houses being constructed every year across the country.

• It is the joint initiative of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• The index will help the developers to determine the risk of building in a particular area, as it will provide information about the construction activity happening across major cities.
• It is a good measure of consumer confidence, when they are confident about the future they would take on a big liability such as buying a house.
• It can also help authorities to detect property bubbles in their early stage.
• The buyer/seller can compare the index price with the offer while deciding on a deal. The index helps in tracking consumer behavior as well as the investment trends geographically.
• The HSUI is probably to cover new residential projects in a mix of Tier-I, II and III cities. 

About Integrated Urban Poverty Monitoring System (IPoMs)

• To closely monitor the submission of the Detailed Project Reports under RAY, by the States, a web-based tool called the IPoMs, designed by the Ministry.
• Through this tool, the implementation of the scheme, can be speed up and tracked effectively. This will also ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the scheme.

Note: The first phase of HSUI will cover 31 cities across the country. The major cities viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, etc are under the index. Finally, it will cover the rest of the country. Once operational, the data is expected to be printed on a quarterly basis.