Push For Affordable Housing: PM Awas Yojana Houses Can Get A Little Larger Now, Govt Hikes Carpet Area Requirements

The Union Cabinet has approved an increase in carpet area for houses eligible for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) interest subsidies, reports The Economic Times. The scheme was launched two years back with the motto of ‘Housing for All’, and targeting 18 million urban and 30 million rural households.

Under the PMAY, middle and low income groups – MIGs and LIGs respectively, can avail a subsidy on the interest payments on the home loans, which aims to make house ownership easier for these income groups.

The new carpet areas for the MIG-1 and MIG-2 are 90 and 120 sq. meters, which roughly translate to a 2 BHK and 3 BHK houses respectively. Households with annual income falling between Rs. 600,001 to Rs 1,200,000 are classified as MIG-1, while those between Rs. 1,200,001 to Rs. 1,800,000 are classified as MIG-2.

The scheme takes into account the carpet area – the area that the carpet is laid on, and not the super built-up area which includes walls, balconies and outer areas of the house too. Currently customers are charged for the super built-up area by builders.

The change is effective from 1 January, 2017, so houses falling under the new areas can also avail the scheme.

By increasing the carpet area, the government hopes to make the scheme more appealing for households in need of bigger houses. This move will also bring in many ready-to-move-in houses which have been lying vacant due to costs, under the scheme.