Mumbai And Pune See Maximum Sales In The Affordable Housing Segment

In the expensive property markets of Mumbai and Pune, buyers are desperate to find affordable homes. Among all the affordable homes up for sale, these two cities in Maharashtra attracted maximum homebuyers, data show. In the past one year, for example, Dombivali, Neral and Panvel in Mumbai and Wagholi and Hinjewadi in Pune registered the highest sales of affordable homes, numbers available with PropTiger.com show.  Affordable localities that also saw great action include Virar (Mumbai) , Alandi (Pune) , Badlapur East (Mumbai) , Naigaon East (Mumbai) and Dhayari (Pune) .

Despite the demand, the supply however is limited. Why is that? “Mumbai is quite an expensive market. Despite the fact that builders have been resizing their offerings to allow discounts, they have not been able to meet the buyer requirements. Reducing rates beyond a point is not feasible for them,” explains Manoj Karmakar, a city-based real estate agent.

“We, a family of four, have been looking for a home of at least 1,000 square foot. This is basic for a family of this size, right? In Mumbai, this big a house is a luxury and may cost multiple crores, and our budget of Rs 75 lakh is too meagre for that,” rues Lata Mangesh, whose family has been on the lookout for an affordable property for the last three years. “We will need to compromise on the location in order to find a large home,” adds Mangesh.

Outskirts have emerged as an option for buyers in Pune, too but one has to compromise on livability factors. Tarun Tambe, who recently purchased a property to earn rent, finds the location disadvantageous. “I don’t see many would be willing to rent this property where the locality is far from developed,” points out Tambe.

Current real estate prices in the top ten localities in Mumbai and Pune

Karmakar is of the view that it is not easy to come across a property that is affordable in all respects - the twin parameters of price and size requirements in order to qualify as an affordable property has made it difficult. “Livability and price consideration are priorities. However, to ensure housing sales, developers go for different formats – 1RK, nano-housing, micro-homes, etc. These are ultimately very small spaces and suit the lifestyle of single professionals.” Sadly, demand doesn’t match supply and for a long time, this shall continue, notes Karmakar. 

*Source: PropTiger.com and Housing.com

Note: **Price range includes price of residential plots, independent houses and apartments.