Mumbai: More than 50,000 flats are added to Mumbai's real estate sector ever year. However, only those who earn a crore and above per annum can afford it. City-based builders are either constructing houses for the uber-rich or for the slum dwellers to avail the free Floor Space Index (FSI).

In three years, high-end constructions have doubled, whereas construction of buildings meant for the middle and the upper middle classes are between far and few.
The 15 per cent drop in the realty prices is of no help because little difference has come about. The sale value of most new flats is between Rs 2 crore and Rs 45-50 crore.
Most posh buildings have fancy amenities (see accompanying story) for which the builder charges more. Asks Murari Chaturvedi, editor, Accommodation Times, and a real estate expert, "I wonder for whom are these high-end constructions coming up?

A common man only needs a 1BHK flat but not a single builder is ready to invest in such a project."

Builders feel they are not to blame. Anand Gupta, Builders Association of India's general secretary, says, "Builders do have buyers for super expensive projects. Flats costing between Rs 1-5 crore are common.

In fact, flats worth Rs 50 crore are available too. Even a builder is a businessman who wants to make profits," says Gupta. As for the common man's dream house he says, "It's true that flats are not available in Mumbai for the masses. The middle-class man has to go to suburbs like Dahanu, Virar, Vasai, Karjat and Kalyan."

Agreeing with him, Karan Sodhi, general manager of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, a real estate consultancy firm, says, "Developers have high-end projects even in Dahisar that value close to a crore."

However, Abhisheck Lodha of Lodha builders does not fully agree with Gupta and Sodhi. He believes there is still something for everyone in the city. "We are constructing buildings, complexes, apartments that are expensive and cater to a specific customer because there is a demand for it.

But it's not true that there aren't apartments for the common man. They have to just look for it,' stresses Lodha, who is currently selling flats on an invitation basis that cost anything between Rs 35 to Rs 40 crore.
 
Taking Lodha's point one step further, Pravin Doshi, Acme group's chairman and President Maharashtra Chambers of Housing and Industries adds that rate and style of the building depends on the place where the building is being constructed. "If a builder has got a plot in Napean Sea road, he won't construct flats similar to that of Borivli or Goregaon.

A high-end project can be constructed in Dahisar but a low cost project cannot be erected in Worli or Mahalaxmi," says Doshi, adding, "It's not true that there are no houses for common man but they have to go a bit far." 

Sunil Mantri from Mantri group explains the phenomenon of building houses for the rich saying, "In Manhattan, only the rich stay in the city; the common man stays far away. The same is happening with Mumbai. The government is responsible for the rise in prices. It should provide incentives to builders to build homes for everyone. Till then the common man has to satisfy himself with the flats in the far extended suburbs," says Mantri.