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Mumbai: Affordable Housing 100 km. Away

In a recent article the Mid-Day talks about how affordable housing is now at least 100 km away from the city center. According to developers, these are the places where one can find affordable housing which is in the 1500-3000 Rs per sq.ft. bracket. From reading the article below, I wonder if this is another ploy by the developers to push their products now that they have bought the land and are ready to exploit it in these far flung suburbs.

 

There’s more bad news if you plan to buy that dream house in the city. Prominent builders in the city, who attended the FICCI real estate summit on Thursday, said the common man can now afford a house only more
than 100 km outside the city.

 
Most of the builders stressed that one has to consider options as far as Karjat and Kasara to buy a flat within one’s means. Mohan Deshmukh, former president of the Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry, said, “In the current scenario, if one has to find an affordable house, he has to go at least 100 km away from the city. There aren’t many affordable houses in the city.” The builders defined affordable housing as anything between Rs 1,500 per sq ft and Rs 3,000 per sq ft.

Builders claim an upsurge in the construction cost and land rates is responsible for the skyrocketing property prices in the city. Mofatraj Munot, chairman of Kalpatru Properties, said, “Rates in Mumbai are high because construction cost and land rates have increased considerably in the past few years. I spend approximately Rs 4,000 per sq ft on construction.” Builder Ashish Raheja seconded Munot’s views.

However, real estate experts say there are other reasons behind the picture painted by the builders. According to Ajay Chaturvedi, a real estate expert, “After garnering enough profits from the city, the builders are targeting the outskirts.
“They want to shift the focus from Mumbai to far off places. Almost every prominent builder has bought property in Karjat, Kasara, Panvel and beyond and are developing them quickly. They want to sell those areas as the next hot destinations.”