The metropolis is likely to witness a significant rise in housing as a large number of developers have sought approval for residential projects.

Fewer commercial land-use and planning permissions have been issued so far, this year.

A number of the housing projects will come up on ‘reclassified’ land. Reclassification is the process whereby property earmarked for a particular use — for instance, agriculture, commercial, residential — is notified in the Tamil Nadu government gazette for alternate purpose.

While just two reclassification proposals submitted from January-March 2013 to the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) for Chennai metropolitan area (CMA) are for commercial land-use, six pertain to primary residential-use.

Nine of the 11 multi-storied buildings permitted are residential and 54 of the 64 planning permissions issued to special buildings in the CMA are for residential purposes.

One of the largest residential buildings permitted by CMDA this year has 1,437 dwelling units. Such data point to a potential rise in housing stock in the CMA, said a senior official of CMDA.

The rise in housing stock is also expected to be matched by demand in the medium term as there are also a number of reclassification proposals for industrial land-use. “More industrial-use proposals may create jobs. So the housing supply is likely to match demand because of additional jobs in the future,” said S. Santhanam, former member-chief urban planner, CMDA.

Of the 12 reclassification proposals cleared by the technical committee in the CMDA meeting, five have requested change to industrial land-use.

Because of relatively higher commercial space availability in the CMA, the number of reclassification proposals for commercial land-use is likely to reduce further. The land-use reclassification is made according to the provisions of Section 32 (4) of the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971.

CMDA has given residential reclassification for land in areas such as Ayanambakkam, Ayanavaram, Perungudi, Velachery and Koladi.

Applications for reclassification to industrial use have been made for Noombal, Sholavaram, Sendrambakkam, Nerkundram, Pammal, Ayanambakkam, Vaikkadu and South Perumbedu.

Requests for reclassification of land-use zones are considered taking into account the suitability of the site, accessibility, compatibility with adjoining developments and impact on the environment.

Many developers have submitted reclassification applications to the local body in areas such as Perungudi, Velachery, Karapakkam and Perambur. These were forwarded to the CMDA along with local bodies’ recommendations in the prescribed format.

After detailed scrutiny of the case and ownership documents, CMDA will call for objections from the public.

This will be followed by a notification in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette, completing the reclassification. A number of reclassification applications seeking permission for residential buildings are pending with the CMDA and are likely to be cleared in the coming months.