MHADA has apparently floated 4,275 apartments in its lottery scheme that has received the tremendous response from the inhabitants of Mumbai. They claim to be having around 1.65 lakh buyers in the fray with more than 1.22 lakh people have already paid their deposits.
Builders and developers, not only in Mumbai but across the country, are in a desperate situation for not getting the sale for their apartments due to the recession in the market. But this logic seems to be defied by the MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority) which has received around 1.65 lakh applications for the purchase of 4275 apartments in just 20 days out of which around 1.25 lakh people have already paid their deposits.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”] According to the news published by Mid-Day Mumbai in the 12th February edition, MHADA has received the overwhelming response to their lottery scheme for acquiring the apartment in Mumbai suburb. The newspaper has claimed that this development is taking place in the time of recession when hundreds of apartments are lying without a sale in the Metro.
The sources also claim that MHADA is having the plans of constructing only 4275 apartments and selling them on the lottery scheme for which they have received more than forty times response. Out of total 4275 apartments around, 3755 are situated in Vihar.
According to one of the MHADA officials, the cost of the apartments of MHADA is much lower than that of the open market prices, which is making the people jump at the opportunity. “MHADA apartment rates are much lower than that of the other exiting private sellers in the Mumbai which is forcing people to come forward to buy the flats from us. Another thing is that our land titles are clear which is presently the biggest challenge faced by the private builders and developers,” he said.
According to the housing experts, the buyers have never deserted the marketplace. They were always there waiting for the right opportunity which according to them has come now. “Look at the figure of application received by the MHADA. The numbers are more than the 40 times compared to the availability of the flats in the project. This shows the willingness of the buyers to invest if they have offered the homes at the affordable rates,” said the Managing Director of Liases Foras, a real estate rating and research firm based in Mumbai. According to him, the investors have left the market long back and now this market only for the end users.
There are allegations on the MHADA that they are selling the apartments on the higher built-up area which is higher compared to the other existing private developers. Responding to these allegations, Minister of State for Housing Ravindra Waikar said that the government is looking into the matter. “I have summoned for the meeting of the secretary and vice president of MHADA to discuss this issue and we will come out with the solution on this soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Waikar has denied any increase of rates at the moment. According to him, the real estate market is not booming and they will not be increasing the ready reckoner rates. “I will oppose to any hike in the ready reckoner rates, the sentiments of the market is not very good,” he said.
MHADA project is the initiative of the Maharashtra Government to provide the homes at affordable rates based on which, MHADA’s Konkan Board will hold a lottery for 4275 apartments on February 24 at Rangsharda Auditorium in Bandra (west). The apartments are located in Vihar (3755 flats), Thane (19 flats), Mira Road (310 flats) and Venhurla (27 flats). All the apartments are made for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) except for 1315 homes which are made for the Middle-Income Groups (MIG) and Higher Income Groups (HIG) too. The income group categories are divided based on the salaries of the applicants. The eligibility criterion for EWS is the salary up to Rs. 16,000 to 40,000. For MIG, it is 40,000 to 70,000 and for HIG, it is 70,000 and above.
The real estate market across India is facing the major setback due to a higher expectation of the builders and developers. Projects like MHADA are the need of the day for every state in India. Goa is not facing the similar situation at the moment as most of the buyers in Goa are the investors and not the end users while the situation in Maharashtra is different. Let’s hope this project really provides the affordable homes to the people. Please do leave your comments and suggestions on this issue.
Source: MID DAY [/su_expand]
