How Increased FAR Will Help Mission Of Home For All?
The government has recently approved a proposal to increase the ground coverage of homes and Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in Delhi. The move will help property developers as they will get extra space in their projects. The real estate industry readily welcomed this change saying this will help them realize the government scheme of providing homes for all by 2022.
Under the scheme, the ground coverage in properties in Delhi has been increased from 40% to 50%. For residential plots of 750 sq. m. or more, the FAR calculation in Delhi has been increased from 150% to 200%; and for the plots of 1,000 sq. m. or more, it has been increased from 120% to 200%.
What is floor area ratio?
FAR is the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the total size of the land on which it is built. Mathematically, FAR is calculated as: Total covered area on all floors of all buildings on a certain plot/area of the plot.
An FAR of 3.0 will mean that the total area of the floors of the buildings combined together will be three times the gross area of the plot on which they are being built. Thus, a higher FAR indicates dense construction on the plot and vice versa. FAR is also used by the local governments for zoning purposes. It also affects the value of land. Higher the FAR is, higher will be the value of land.
How will an increased FAR serve the ‘home for all’ mission?
Rapid urbanization has put a lot of pressure on the limited land available for construction. With the current FAR is being low, property developers faced challenges in meeting the increased demand in the residential sector, thus causing the demand-supply gap to widen. However, with the increased FAR builders are allowed extra space in terms of larger built up area. This will, therefore, address the issue of meeting the high demand for residential homes.
However, some developers are of the opinion that there are a lot of other factors that determine the utilization of the available FAR. Unless the regulations regarding the number of dwelling units, height and density of buildings are relaxed, home supply cannot be increased.
Homebuyers who have bought property with low FAR can now build more and get higher returns. Also, the resale value of their property will be higher as there is more open area and the density is low.
In a nutshell, one can say that this is an important move by the government to realize the ‘home for all’ mission in the national capital.