Brookings India is hosting a roundtable on “Vacant Housing in Urban India – extent, cause and policy solutions” with Prof. Richard K. Green, Lusk Chair in Real Estate, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Agenda: According to the Census of India 2011, 11.09 million units, forming 12.38% of the total urban housing stock, are vacant. The extent of vacant housing varies widely across states and cities in India. This is an inefficient urban land market outcome requiring policy attention. More details on temporal and spatial aspects are attached in a work in progress document (authored by Richard Green and Sahil Gandhi).

The questions to discuss but not limited to are:

– What are some of the key reasons for the existence of a large number of vacant houses?

– What policy measures are required to address the issue?

– What data could be used to better understand the situation?  Is it feasible to collect these data?

– What should be the future course of research on this issue?

Bio: Prof. Richard Green is Director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate, University of Southern California. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac. He was a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He was recently President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. In 2015-16, he served as Senior Advisor for Housing Finance at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.