Housing as an emerging and important sector in India has registered an enormous growth and development in terms of number and quality during the past one and a half decade. The past couple of years since the early 1990s have seen a fast transformation of the housing sector into a crucial segment of the economy mainly because of the financial liberalization process, rapid economic growth and urbanization. The acceleration in the growth of housing sector over a few years has been due to the rising demand for housing, and a surge in housing prices in the urban areas. The shortage has also led to significant expansion of slums in the urban areas of India. Against this backdrop, the present study attempts: first, to examine the housing price behaviour in India in general and in Bhubaneswar, the Capital City of Orissa in particular; second, to examine the determinants of demand for and supply of housing in the urban areas; and finally, to examine the role of the government in the provision of housing services to the urban poor households. The study, in order to analyse the proposed objectives, basically relies on secondary sources of data for addressing the issue at the macro level.
