Housing Paradox in Mumbai

Real estate market of Mumbai is reeling under a peculiar situation, where supply is more and demand is less i.e. oversupply in housing segments. In Mumbai, there is overflow of premium residential and commercial projects and buyer is confused in making a selection. Affordable housing is in demand, but it’s facing the shortage in market.

In India, there can be no more cities with so many paradoxes. The spirit of Mumbaikar’s is amazing, but still there is one question that how long they can survive when the infrastructure is crumbling rapidly? Recent studies showing that real-estate games are capturing the attention and time of policy makers, rather than concentrating on critical issues such as; urban development, planning, infrastructure, solid waste management and traffic pollution control, they are looking at the growth of real estate sector.

Reason for this paradox situation:

 According to JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle) report, there is excessive supply of houses for higher-income segment in Mumbai and the price of these houses range from Rs 10000-30000 per sq ft. For middle income group the price of housing units range from Rs 5000-9000 per sq ft with the shortage of 20 to 30% and for low-income group housing units range from Rs 2000-3000 per sq ft with the shortage of 90%.

 Mumbai real estate market is facing such huge gaps, between demand and supply, one hand premium projects are in the excess and other hand affordable housing is facing the shortage of 90%. What is the reason for that? Limited land or government policies or delay in approval or budget housing projects? According to real estate experts it is due to combination of all these factors and few more.

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra

Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra says, “Look the city such as; Rome and Paris, they belong to their residents, and the world class infrastructure allows them to live with dignity. But in Mumbai there is nothing for majority because they are thrown away in the outskirts, due to high cost of property”.  Shobhaa De, adds “In Mumbai many builders are putting their project on halt which contains 1BHk and 2BHK apartments, and opting for 3BHK and 4BHK or above construction, what is this? It is another attack on the common man”.

Few takers are for luxury projects in MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region), why?

• In Mumbai, buyer sentiment is affected by a lot of factors such as; hope for a low price, economic slowdown, lack of money and more.
• High numbers of new projects are making the Mumbaikar’s confused about the selection of property. Most of the projects are on hold or delay due to slow moving demand.
• Strict monetary policies and high inflation are affecting the buyer’s purchasing behavior.
• According to NDTV report, most of the new projects in 2014 are coming in Mumbai’s Western and Central Suburbs region, where as in these areas the demand of affordable housing is extremely high in these belts. So the transaction volumes of housing units in this area are too low.

Indian film director

Real estate experts saying that its due to lack of proper vision and dilution of planning norms, which is responsible for insensitive development. Vikas Dilawari, said that “Balanced and Sensitive development with well-planned infrastructure and proper urban design is the need of time. Famous filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt stated that “The curtain of fantasy needs to be drawn over an ugly truth”.