Property Rates In Mumbai Will Continue To Rise In Future As Well
Being the city of dreams and the financial capital of India, Mumbai was always in demand compared to the other cities in India. As millions of people migrate to the city every year to fulfill their dreams, there has been a steady growth in property rates in Mumbai. While the prices of properties are steadily increasing, there is a lack in supply of land even though the demand is high. The acute land shortage has made many building developers and home sellers quote an enormous amount for their assets.
Recently, a 25 acre land in Mumbai suburbs was sold at Rs. 1,155 crore in an auction. This is not the first time a piece of land has been sold at an astronomical price. In the year 2010, a six acre plot in Wadala was sold at Rs. 4,000 crore in an auction. This was a record setting real-estate bid on a national level. The land was purchased by a premium real estate developer to extend the list of their upcoming projects in Mumbai. While on one end there is a rise in luxury apartments, one can witness a majority of people living in shanties and other illegal settlements. This is because, they cannot afford to pay the high rents demanded by the landlords.
With around 438 sq km land mass, Mumbai has buildable area of approximately 200 sq km. This is extremely less considering the fact that over 12 million people reside in the island. Being densely populated with as much as 40,000 people residing within 1 sq km, there is a demand of over 2 lakh homes per year. However, the private real estate developers have not been able to provide more than 25,000 houses every year. As the supply does not meet the demand, there has been an immense increase in the property rates in Mumbai.
The intervention of government bodies is essential to bring a drastic change to the existing situation. Many builders are stressing on the conversion of residential areas in to commercial property in Mumbai. Though this has helped the builders gain huge profits, the land assigned for housing projects continues to suffer. The only solution for this crisis is that the real estate developers introducing housing projects should make effective use of the available land and should focus on building quality apartments by pooling in extra land. The pattern and the location should also be analyzed by the builders, with respect to the demand.
Mumbai needs better residential development projects. Only skyscrapers and effective planning can meet with the existing demand and make the city less claustrophobic. Combined with rapid transport, the city can become one of the highly efficient mega cities in the world. However, before that the intervention of local authorities is essential to avoid malpractices and land frauds.
