Mumbai: The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority’s (Mhada’s) latest lottery for 2,640 affordable flats in the city appears to have significantly stretched the definition of affordable, if the price of the costliest apartment available in the draw is anything to go by— ₹6.82 crore.
However, the 1,531.7 square-foot, 3 BHK flat on the 19th floor of Crescent Tower, a 20-storey high-rise in south Mumbai’s Tardeo, is available at a relative steal if the prevailing market rates in the area are anything to go by.
“A similar configuration 3 BHK apartment sized 1,531.70 sqft in the same Crescent Tower is available in the resale market for ₹8 crore,” said a property consultant in Tardeo, requesting anonymity. “Post negotiations, the price could come down by a few lakhs, but not a crore.”
The flat is available at a per-square-foot rate of around ₹44,525. “The prevailing prices in recently constructed buildings in Tardeo are around ₹60,000 per square foot,” the consultant added.
The apartment is being sold under the high income group (HIG) category, which is reserved for families with an annual income above ₹12 lakh. It offers views of the Arabian Sea and the Mahalaxmi Race Course. Each of the 20 floors in Crescent Tower has three apartments.
A south Mumbai-based developer, requesting anonymity, told the Hindustan Times that flats in Aaradhya Avaan, an ultra-luxury residential skyscraper located a kilometre away from Crescent Tower, is selling for around ₹75,000 per sqft. Just 100 metres from Crescent Tower is The Imperial, one of Mumbai’s tallest residential buildings, where real estate prices exceed ₹75,000 per sqft.
However, this is no guarantee that the ₹6.82-crore flat will find a buyer. Mhada has repeatedly attempted to sell flats at Crescent Tower since 2023, when the high-rise came into the authority’s kitty as part of its share of housing stock from redevelopment projects under the Development Control and Promotion Regulations 2034.
In the current lottery draw, there are two apartments from this building for sale. The second one is 1,520.94 sqft in size and has a price tag of ₹6.77 crore. In the 2023 lottery draw, there were eight Crescent Tower apartments up for grabs. It is unclear how many were sold, but only two were included in the current lottery.
A third one—worth ₹7.58 crore—was not included after it found no takers in Mhada’s First Come First Serve sale earlier this year, according to a Mhada official. The ₹7.58-crore flat, located on the top floor of Crescent Tower, is the most expensive one Mhada has ever offered.
In 2023, this flat was reserved for current and former MPs, MLAs and MLCs, and was won by Narayan Kuche, a BJP MLA from the Badnapur constituency in Jalna district. However, he later surrendered it, citing a lack of funds, the Mhada official said.
