60 Percent of Mumbai's Luxury Apartments Remain Unsold

Bangalore: Mumbai city is witnessing a new volatile market in the real estate sector that of the luxury apartments. Off late it’s been observed that more than half of the luxury apartments in the city remain unsold including both developed and the ones under construction reports Kailash Babar of ET Bureau.

Out of 3,300 luxury apartments that were developed in the city 55-60 percent of them remain unsold, the price of these apartments ranges between 10-100 crore. The reason behind the unsold inventories is noted is as spiraling prices, regulatory uncertainty and ‘less demand more supply’ which has compelled the elite class to put their home buying plan on hold. Moreover, 1,880 units of the above mentioned price range came up in the city previous year.

According to industry sources, some of the major inventories remain unsold in the city, which includes Shapoorji Pallonji-Dilip Thacker's The Imperial at Tardeo in south Mumbai, although the project was completed back in 2010, more than 40 flats out of 228 are left unsold; the project ‘Orchid Crown’ by DB Realty in Prabhadevi, where around 35 percent of the total 612 flats are lying unsold and Lodha Group's World One at Lower Parel, where more than 40 percent of the total 170 apartments are yet to be sold.

Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases Foras Real Estate Rating & Research stated that "Slowdown is clearly visible from the lower velocity with which the apartments are being picked up.”

Mumbai’s real estate market have seen healthy real estate movement in the year 2007-08, where nearly 400 luxury inventories were sold compared to 2011-12 fiscal, where about 100 luxury apartments got sold. The foremost signs of oversupply were observed after June 2009, when most developers launched their inventories targeting the high net worth individuals (HNIs) in Mumbai.