#1. Suburban is the new urban?
In the film Bombay Velvet, we can hear someone say “Land has been allotted for this in Santacruz, outside Bombay”.Now, for all those who were born after the 60s and 70s, this statement would’ve been as puzzling as a Christopher Nolan film. However, this gives an interesting insight into the classification of suburban Bombay, or Mumbai, as it is now. Some people may argue that Bombay ended after Worli or Lower Parel perhaps, and everything beyond that was a suburban area.
However, this is no longer true, Bombay no longer exists on the map, and we’ve become a lot more flexible with our suburbs. Now, you can confidently claim anything South of Bandra was Mumbai City and anything north of it were the suburbs. Bandra is now the threshold, as opposed to Worli when Bombay was still Bombay.While you may attribute it to the rise in population in the city, the move to the suburbs was inevitable. For long, Mumbai City (or South Mumbai, if you prefer that), has been the breeding ground of the crème de la crème of the City, the upper crust of the city crowd.
The cost of living or working there was just as high as the upper class standard of living.So, when you’re offered the chance to have a bigger space for yourself (residential) or for your organisation (commercial) at a significantly lower amount of money, you’d obviously take the deal. That’s exactly what happened to Mumbai.
HIDE CONTENT READ MORE#2. The Impact of the lockdown on Real Estate in Mumbai.
We’re currently in May 2021, having been in a state of lockdown for over a year now. Initially, the sentiment was positive; See the wave out in a month or so and go back to how life was before. However, Covid-19 had other plans.As the mass migration of people back to their hometowns commenced, we noticed that cities began wearing abandoned looks. Businesses were closed down, offices were shut, and the roads were deserted.
According to reports by two global property brokerage firms, net leasing activity showed a clear decline as recently as the period of January-March 2021, owing to the prevalent circumstances. These reports are further supported by data sourced from Cushman and Wakefield which showed a 48% annual decline in net leasing activity during the 1st quarter of this year.
However, house affordability has seen a definitive increase during this period. With RBI’s repo rate at 4% currently, housing loans are available at around 7% interest due per annum, as compared to a rate of 8% per annum in January 2020.
HIDE CONTENT READ MORE#3. Things to do before buying a house!
Everyone living in Mumbai dreams of owning a house in the city. More importantly, they dream of turning that house into a home, replete with all their hopes and dreams.However, buying yourself a house in Mumbai in 2021 is a slightly cumbersome task, which comes with several complications.
Before you even begin your search for the perfect house, you have a budget in mind, bearing in mind it is difficult to find inexpensive residential spaces in Mumbai. Of course very few people actually pay for a house in one-go, so you have to calculate the amount of money you put aside for your monthly payments towards a house that may well be your only property purchase. Budget well and you’ll find yourself with fewer problems than otherwise.
Once you have a broad list of places to consider purchasing them, it is time for you to analyse the neighbourhood. It is important to strike a right balance whilst looking for affordable housing. Often, we find extremely affordable residential spaces in Mumbai, but the neighbourhood just doesn’t suit you, or the facilities you need aren’t available.Once you’ve picked out your dream home, the matter of financing the move comes into the picture. Of course, as mentioned before, very few people actually pay for a residential space in Mumbai up front. Most people have to rely on EMI payments or loans. The thumb rule here is that your EMI shouldn’t exceed half your monthly income.
HIDE CONTENT READ MORE#4. Is Mumbai real estate market crowded?
Mumbai, often called the city of dreams, is probably the most attractive place for anyone in the country to live in.However, people often don’t take into account one fact: Where the demand for something is high, the price demanded for it will be just as high, and the same rings true for Mumbai.
With affordable housing seemingly a myth for the longest time, the real estate prices touch astronomical figures, thereby pricing the lower-middle and lower class out of an affordable residential space in Mumbai. The general sentiment is that this market has become completely saturated.
Nevertheless, this did not mean that there demand for those spaces dipped. On the contrary, demand has steadily grown, with most developers carving out a niche for themselves catering to specific customers, offering various facilities along with just the residential space.
HIDE CONTENT READ MORE#5. Future of Mumbai's real estate market.
India has been in a state of restricted lockdown for over a year now. A short-term problem has metastasized into several issues over the course of the past year. The real estate market saw considerably fewer housing registrations as compared to 2019 and 2018. While the real estate market was on a decline as recently as February 2020 (before the advent of the pandemic), measures undertaken by all concerned parties meant that the market had a firm base to pick up from.
With economic activities slowly returning to normal, the city of Mumbai has picked up some momentum in the first quarter of 2021.While the work-from-home model here to stay for the foreseeable future, the lack of available space in residential spaces has encouraged people to look for bigger spaces for themselves.
With the government slashing stamp duty rates along with the Reserve Bank of India lowering the interest rate on home loans to an all-time low of 7%, the housing market has seen a resurgence nobody would have predicted with sales having tripled in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the third quarter of 2020.
HIDE CONTENT READ MORE#6. Difference between RERA carpet area, Built-up and Super Built-up.
A person buys an apartment once or twice in his lifetime. Buying a house is not like buying your daily groceries or buying petrol where the change in regulation instantly affects your day-to-day activities.
Therefore when a buyer sits with a Developer or a real estate agent to finalise buying a house, he is at the behest of their expertise without being comfortable to ask dumb questions such as “What is built-up area?” or “What is the difference between built-up and super built-up?”
Buyers believe that coming across as novice or ignorant of the jargons of real estate will make him weak in price negotiations and hence ends up accepting what the other party is offering while staying strong on one thing he knows i.e. ceiling limit of his buying price.
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