Realty News Roundup is PropGuide's selection of top stories from the real estate sector.

Considering that a sizeable chunk of migrant population in cities either don't want to buy or can't purchase a house, the government has prepared a policy to increase formal rental housing stock. These will be in the form of hostels, paying guest accommodations and dormitories under the Social Rental Housing scheme. The scheme, aimed at helping poor and labourers besides those, who come to stay in urban areas for short periods for various reasons including studies, short term employment, will get direct support from both Centre and state governments besides market driven rental housing. Read more

Depositors queued up in front of the office of Maple Group here on Thursday as the firm, accused of misleading people to promote its low-cost housing scheme, started refunding money following registration of a case for cheating. The people, mainly from low income groups, lined up to recover Rs 1,145, which they paid for registration for the one-bedroom flats priced at Rs 5 lakh. Maple Group had recently published advertisements promising 1 BHK flat for just Rs 5 lakh on the outskirts of the city. Read more

All the 23 cities and towns from as many States and Union Territories that were given an opportunity to participate in the 'Fast Track Competition' under Smart City Mission submitted their revised plans on Thursday. According to Urban Development Ministry, the revised plans of these 23 cities, including 15 capitals, would be evaluated by May 15 and those meeting the benchmark set by the winning cities in the first round of Smart City Challenge Competition will be announced for extending central assistance. Read more

A CBRE report released on Wednesday said demand for prime office space in Mumbai during the January-March quarter of last fiscal period saw a rise of almost 50 per cent over that of last quarter of 2015 fiscal. The report said the demand trends for corporate real estate picked up in Mumbai during the period, noting a healthy mix of front and back-office space transactions by corporate occupiers. Read more