Mumbai: 4,468 Mhada houses up for auction in May

The Mhada has announced a lottery for 4,468 houses in May this year. Of these 4,468 houses, 785 will be in Mumbai and will cost between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 80 lakh, while the reaming will be in Virar within the price range of Rs 24 and Rs 47 lakh

Here is some good news for homebuyers. The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) has announced a lottery for 4,468 houses in May this year. Of these 4,468 houses, 785 will be in Mumbai and will cost between Rs 8 lakh and Rs 80 lakh, while the reaming will be in Virar within the price range of Rs 24 and Rs 47 lakh.

A-file-image-of-the-MHADA-flats-in-Maharashtra-HT-photo

The houses in Mumbai will be in areas such as Sion, Mulund, Mankhurd, Malad and Goregaon, while the ones in Virar will be at Bolinj. Ravindra Waikar, state minister for housing, said, “We are trying our best to provide maximum affordable houses to the people.” He, however, dismissed claims that the rates were too high and unaffordable. “Compared to private builders, our rates are still lower,” he said.

Forms for the lottery will be available from April and the entire operation will be online.

However, housing activists said high rates are a major problem even for Mhada flats. “It is unfortunate that even government agencies are making money at the cost of buyers. Affordable housing is just political talk, while the ground reality is that realty prices are too high for the common man,” said Ramesh Prabhu, chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association.

With real estate prices skyrocketing, Mhada flats are in great demand. Till date, 12.82 lakh applicants have tried their luck for the 18,694 houses put on the block. However in the past two years, the number of applicants has dipped because of unaffordable pricing.

Last year, the development authority was forced to lower its prices to attract buyers, as there were very few takers.