Mumbai Housing: Affordability Up, Ownership Still Elusive

Mumbai has reached its best housing affordability level in 15 years, yet homeownership remains a distant dream for most, including high-income earners.

According to a recent National Housing Bank (NHB) analysis, even the top 5% of earners in Mumbai would require over 109 years of savings to afford an average home—underlining the depth of the affordability crisis. A Knight Frank India report confirms that Mumbai's Home Purchase Affordability Index has improved, with the average household now spending 48 percent of income on loan repayments, down from 50 percent last year.

Key Highlights

• Top 5 percent of earners need 109 years of savings to buy an average Mumbai home
• Mumbai households spend 48 percent of income on home loans—highest among Indian metros
• Over 78% of registered properties in 2024 were under Rs. 2 crore

Although this marks the first time Mumbai has dipped below the 50 percent affordability threshold, it's still far above other major metros, suggesting marginal improvements have not translated to real accessibility.

Registration data highlights the city's skew toward mid and lower-budget homes. In 2023, 1.14 lakh properties were registered, of which over 82 percent were priced below Rs. 2 crore. In 2024, property registrations rose by 12 percent to 1.28 lakh, yet 78 percent remained in the sub-Rs. 2 crore bracket, showing a continued preference for budget-friendly housing despite rising prices.

Experts suggest that reduced home loan rates have contributed to the affordability uptick, but high base prices and income stagnation mean true home ownership remains largely inaccessible to the urban population.

"The supply of affordable housing has not decreased. Units of 60 sq meters and 90 sq meters are still constructed, but their prices have gone beyond the cap. CREDAI will run a campaign to redefine this cap. This will ease the burden on customers because they will pay only 1 per cent GST instead of 5 per cent if a unit falls under the affordable category," Shekhar Patel, CREDAI President, told reporters in April 2025.

“Homebuyers can still find compact 2BHK options in areas like Titwala, Ambernath, Karjat, and Neral. However, within Mumbai city limits, Rs. 50 lakh would barely fetch a 1RK (Room-Kitchen) studio apartment in the suburbs, and even those are increasingly hard to come by,” said Piyush Doshi, a real estate consultant based in Mumbai’s western suburbs.

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"If we consider Rs. 3 lakh as monthly family income, wherein husband and wife both earn Rs. 1.50 lakh each monthly. Assuming they purchase a Rs. 2 crore apartment on a 100 percent home loan, their monthly EMI will be around Rs. 1.75 lakh. This is more than 50 percent of the family's monthly income, and not advisable," said Viraj Modia, a chartered accountant based in Mumbai.