Venturing where few private players have gone before, India's largest realty firm DLF is

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is planning to build one lakh affordablehouses that would cost less than Rs 20 lakh in major cities across the country.

According to sources, the company is giving final touches to its strategy for development of these one lakh housing units in the next three years under a new brand and the sub-Rs 20 lakh price is expected to be inclusive of all charges.

Earlier this year, DLF's rival Unitech had announced entry into this segment as part of efforts to revive demand in the sector hit hard by the impact of the global downturn.

In a presentation to analysts, DLF management said last week that "launch of new 'value' house segment with a distinct brand is under planning", but did not divulge further details.

After facing huge debt pressure on account of the financial crisis, DLF reported a profit of Rs 440 crore in quarter ending September 2009, though it is 77 per cent less than the comparable period last year.

Sources said that DLF plans to kick start the ambitious 'value' house project from Gurgaon within the next two months. Of total one lakh homes, about 10,000 units are expected to come up in Gurgaon.

When contacted, company spokesperson declined to comment.

In order to beat the slowdown in the property market, real estate developers have started focusing on affordable housing segment.

Only few months back, DLF's nearest competitor Unitech had announced that it would build 20,000 houses over the next couple if years in a price range of Rs 10-25 lakh under a new brand 'Uni Homes'.

Besides Gurgaon, DLF plans to launch its low-cost houses in other major cities where it has a presence including Lucknow, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Chandigarh.

Though size of the apartment of 'value' homes would be just about 700 sq ft, DLF would not compromise on quality of construction and facilities and they would be comparable to any other project of the company, sources said.

Despite flats being offered at lower cost, DLF expects to earn a 25 per cent margin from this segment.

DLF has a total land bank of 432 million sq ft across 30 major cities of the country to launch affordable houses. Of the total land bank, 49 million sq ft is under construction.

The company has presence in all the verticals of real estate inclusing housing, offices, shopping malls, SEZ, IT Parks, hotels and townships.