Rental housing in the formal and informal market plays a significant role in meeting the shelter needs of various income groups in the urban areas of Ernakulam. In a context where ownership housing in the formal sector is beyond the reach of large sections of the population, rental housing, by whichever form it is described, offers the only options for accommodation to the new migrants and the older residents from the poorer sections.

The National Housing Policy Document of India proposes to encourage investment in rental housing through fiscal incentives, modifications to rent control laws and promotion of access to land through institutional finance and making available building materials at affordable costs. The same document refers to the need to create an enabling environment for housing activity, and to mobilize private initiative in a variety of ways. It also envisages the removal of various legal and other constraints to the housing process.

The recognition of the importance of rental housing and the role played by the private sector provides the setting for discussing the options for the collaboration of public and private sectors in this sub-sector of housing. In Ernakulam Real Estate investments have been spurred by the high rentals and also the demand for more living spaces.

If you intend to own a piece of land in this hot real estate market, you need to have sufficient funds to break into the hot areas. Perhaps at no point of time in the past has the real estate values climbed to such phenomenal highs. While the people owning properties in the urban centers will be able to redeem the value of the property in terms of its weight in gold, the urban fringes of this district are also fast catching up to this trend. Thus major changes are likely to take place in the days to come in Ernakulam.