 "Mumbai realty: a record 32,000 flats unsold")
Up to 32,000 flats in Mumbai are unsold and waiting for an owner, according to a report in Hindustan Times. That’s an all-time high.
Include the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) as a whole - which includes Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad and Mumbai - and the number of unsold flats goes up to 95,000 units.
[caption id=“attachment_122680” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Housing prices have gone out of the reach of the average upper middle class family in Mumbai. Reuters”]
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Yet people, burdened by high interest rates and still-climbing property prices, are in no mood to buy.The report, quoting data from Liases Fores, a leading real estate consultancy, said about 16,000 units were unsold at the same time last year.
Housing prices have gone out of the reach of the average upper middle class family in Mumbai, and high interest rates have added to the burden of buying a home. Yet developers have shied from lowering prices significantly.
A Bloomberg report noted that while the city’s unsold inventory climbed to a 110 million square feet, the average selling price in Mumbai climbed to a record Rs 10,021 per square feet.A recent Moneylife article noted that Mumbai builders had sold only 8.17 million square feet of property.
Under the current situation, developers will need 40 months to clear the current inventory.
It is difficult to understand why builders are hoarding properties when sales are going nowhere.