While Navi Mumbai is seen as a destination for affordable housing, the four-day property exhibition is telling a different story. The majority of the projects showcased from Vashi, Nerul, Ghansoli, Belapur and Ulwe are beyond the reach of common citizens. Even a home buyer has to shell out over ₹60 lakh to ₹1 crore to get a 1 BHK home in these nodes.
The majority of the visitors at the exhibition on Saturday echoed in the same voice where affordable homes are. “If I have one crore, why do I visit an exhibition to find an affordable home,” Pradyna Patil, a home buyer who visited the exhibition.
She added that she would search for properties online or by visiting developers' offices. “People come to an exhibition to get a home on their budget. Visiting the exhibition is nothing but window shopping, she said.
Affordable homes lack basic infrastructure
If anyone is searching for properties even under ₹30 lakh, they have to make a choice between Karjat, Khopoli, or areas nearby Panvel that lack basic infrastructure.
While the four-day property exhibition of CREDAI BANM Navi Mumbai has brought a large number from Dronagiri, Pushpak Nagar, Rasayani, and Panvel-Matheran Road and areas under the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
Developers say more units will be available soon
“There is a need to clarify the term affordability. If we go by the exhibition, the affordability is a minimum of ₹60 lakh,” said Rahul Rohidas, a resident of Bonkode in Koparkhairane. He added that how many people can actually have ₹60 lakh to buy a house?
In the last two years, the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has made available thousands of plots and many of the plots received the highest bidding price around the base price. Developers claimed that more units of homes will be available and this will also check prices.
Exaggerating prices will not survive in long-term
CIDCO has been constructing houses under the PMAY in large numbers of projects in prime locations. Many real estate experts say exaggerating prices beyond common citizens' capacity will not survive in the long term and it will affect the real estate sector badly.
“Navi Mumbai developers failed to provide world-class commercial and residential properties despite a world-class infrastructure. But Gurgaon with lower infrastructure attracted more multinational companies with world world-class commercial and residential properties,” said a real estate expert.
