ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on changes in house construction costs and examines these changes in relation to land price changes in the city. When land prices increase it becomes important to consider what happens to a household’s need for land for housing purposes. The chapter aims to assess to what extent construction costs in Lucknow have risen since 1970; and to explore the means by which households adapt to increases in ‘house prices’ caused by increases in land and/or construction costs. The implication is that land costs as a proportion of total housing costs have risen, if no adjustments are taking place in the housing needs of households in Lucknow City. Many selected households purchased smaller plots over time, and they built smaller houses. The proportion of householders building four-room houses and larger has decreased over time, which suggests that households also made adjustments to increasing real land prices by building slightly smaller houses.
