Mumbai property on a budget: MHADA has good news for those eyeing affordable homes

Good news awaits those who are looking to buy affordable homes in Mumbai's extended suburbs. The Maharashtra Housing And Area Development Authority's (MHADA) Konkan Board received 3,300 completely constructed homes in Virar in March which the Board plans to include in the lottery soon. These homes will be up for grabs in addition to the 1,001 homes of the MHADA's Mumbai Board lottery. All the homes of the Konkan Board measure nearly 30 sq mts and are part of the ongoing construction being carried out by MHADA's Konkan Board in Virar.

In its previous two lotteries, the MHADA sold 1,716 homes in 2014 and 4,275 homes in 2016. In these, homes for the Lower Income Group (LIG) were sold at Rs 22 lakh each. Vijay Lahane, chief officer, Konkan Board said, "We received the homes in March and are looking for more homes in the Konkan region. I cannot say when the lottery will be held. We are yet to decide the pricing of the homes."

According to a senior official, all the homes in Virar are part of the LIG and considering the last lottery sold in this segment in Virar, in which the price per home was close to Rs 22 lakh, it is likely that this year too the rates won't go up by too much.

"The ready reckoner rates for this year have been kept on the same level as last year. There hasn't been much change in real estate prices in Virar either. So the rates at which MHADA sold the homes in 2016 shouldn't see much change as beyond that people will then prefer homes from private developers who are also selling at close to this rate," said Raghvendra Sharma, a prospective homebuyer.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Board's lottery this year seems to focus on the LIG and economically weaker section as only two homes have been allotted to the Higher Income Group so far. While the Mumbai Board's lottery is scheduled for June-July, the Konkan board's lottery schedule is yet to be decided.

(By Varun Singh, DNA)