Around 100 NRI houses, most of them palatial, are up for sale at Kaippuzha village in Kerala’s Kottayam district. The village has all the amenities of a township, thanks to the NRI money invested here over the years.
The population is dominated by the Knanaya Catholic community whose members had started going abroad for jobs as early as the 1950s. Though the Knanayas started the trend, now other communities in central Kerala are also part of the exodus.
Large houses owned by NRIs line the roads in neighbouring Kaduthurthy, Uzhavoor, Karinkunnam, etc, also – mostly vacant and awaiting the occasional visit by their owners.
About 11% of homes vacant
The first-generation NRIs who built many of these houses had planned to spend their retirement years in them. However, their children chose to settle abroad, and the houses became dead money after the parents passed. In other cases, emigrants sent money home tofulfill their parents’ dream of living in a huge house – once a measure of social status – but did not return to stay in them.
Biju Abraham, who runs a short stay facility for elderly persons at Mallappally in Pathanamthitta district, often interacts with NRIs. “In many houses in this panchayat, only aged parents live. After they die, most of the houses remain closed as the children don’t want to return,” he said.
Per the 2011 Census, 10. 6% of Kerala houses were vacant. There were altogether 11,89,144 vacant houses, including 5,85,998 in rural areas and 6,03,146 in urban areas. Going by the increasing emigration for jobs and education, the number of vacant houses is likely to rise in the next Census.
Data from Haritha Karma Sena, which collects non-biodegradable waste from houses and establishments for recycling, shows 2,886 of the 11,156 houses in Koipuram Grama Panchayat in Pathanamthitta district remain closed. Kumbanad, a village where at least one person from every household is abroad, is in this panchayat. “Some owners visit once in a while, but the houses mostly remain closed,” said the officer in charge of the sena there.
Because many of the vacant houses have not been maintained for years, their fixtures and appliances might not work, so the owners stay in rented flats or villas when they visit Kerala to attend a family function or on holiday.
A dwindling community
Babu P A, president of Knanaya Catholic Congress, said that at this rate nobody from thecommunity might be left in the state in another 50 years: “It’s difficult to find youngsters in the community now. After class 12 they leave to study abroad and don’t want to return.”
Babu’s three children are settled in three different countries, and he said many houses become vacant when parents move abroad to live with their children. “If the aged parent is in a condition to walk, they will be taken by their children, and if they are bedridden they may end up in some old age home.”
Many sellers, no buyers
P Prasad, a realtor based in central Kerala, also said many vacant NRI houses are up for sale. “The real state sites are awash with advertisements. Most of these houses are big and priced above a crore,” he said. While there are many sellers, there aren’t too many buyers, he added. Prasad recalls how anelderly couple spent Rs 2 crore from their NRI children’s remittances to build their dream home. Then the wife passed away and the children pressured their father to live with them abroad. The old man sold the house soon after the housewarming for Rs 1 crore.
Reji Parakkan from Adichira in Kottayam now lives in Melbourne. His Kerala house remains locked. He said 90% of NRIs want to buy a house in their country of residence. “Now we realise there is no point in building houses in Kerala. It’s tough to get a good tenant. Even if we rent it out the house will not be properly looked after. ” Also, vacant houses are at risk from trespassers using them as places for drinking and gambling, he added.
‘Societal dynamics at work’
Sandhya R S, head of Kerala University’s sociology department, said she does not see any negative impact on society due to these closed houses. “Many sell it when they get a good price. However, these houses are dead money as no sale is happening now.”
The thinning population does affect schools and local businesses though. “Schools in the locality are the most affected. Local businesses may not flourish and farmers may find it hard to sell their produce,” said Sandhya, adding that the government should find out why people are going abroad and don’t want to return. She said this might partly be due to Kerala’s social structure. “There is no individual identity, it is the group identity and even though we say caste is not important it is treated with importance here.”
In its latest budget, the state government had brought a proposal to tax vacant houses, but then withdrew it after facing strong criticism from NRIs.