Rich & famous put gloss back on Mumbai realty

Mumbai: Captains of industry, corporate bosses, cricketers and actors are among those setting Mumbai’s luxury real estate abuzz again. Thanks to the pandemic-led price correction and stamp duty reduction, the last couple of months have seen closure of several big-ticket realty deals. Buyers include HDFC’s Keki Mistry, actors Hrithik Roshan, Alia Bhatt and Amrita Puri (daughter of HDFC Bank ex-chief Aditya Puri), stockbroker Motilal Oswal, cricketer Shreyas Iyer, Jatia Hotels’ Vinod Kumar Jatia, Modison Metals’ Kumar Jay Modi and Harpreet Singh Minhas of Harman Finochem.But it’s not the price of these swanky homes that’s eye-catching but the speed of the transactions, especially since the economy is nowhere near full recovery.79984693Hrithik Roshan bought two apartments on Juhu Versova Link Road for ₹97.50 crore recently, while Alia Bhatt purchased a house in Bandra for ₹32 crore. Motilal Oswal has purchased two duplex apartments for ₹101 crore at Peddar Road. Amrita Puri, along with her mother Anita, recently purchased a ₹50-crore apartment in the plush Malabar Hill. Shreyas Iyer bought a luxury apartment spread over 2,618 sq ft at the World Towers in Lower Parel for ₹11.85 crore, showed registration data accessed by Zapkey.com. Sales of luxury apartments in central and south Mumbai had been sluggish way before the pandemic hit. Market observers say the current upswing is the first in almost five years.Prices have eased 10-15% over the last few months, incentivising many fence-sitters to take the plunge. “This is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Atin Dasgupta of Gupta & Sen Luxury Real Estate. According to him, there’s been an increase in enquiries and conversions from non-resident Indians too.“The pandemic’s income impact on clientele for luxury properties has been limited. These prospective buyers are largely scouting for ready homes or those nearing completion,” said Yashika Rohiira, director at Karma Realtors, which focuses mainly on the southern and western parts of Mumbai.Maharashtra reduced stamp duty to 2%, from 5%, till December-end. Duty will be 3% during January-March 2021. Given the pickup in sales, unsold stock in south-central Mumbai localities had reduced by more than 5% in a year to 11,300 units at the end of September. The inventory is expected to reduce further.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2WQtmok