Mumbai’s residential property market within Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) limits continued to experience a slowdown in 2026. By the end of the September quarter, 32,437 property units had been registered during the year. Although real estate industry experts expect the festive season to provide a boost in the final quarter, current figures indicate that sales volumes may be approaching their upper range, leaving limited scope for further growth.
According to property consultancy Liases Foras, the slowdown has affected different price categories unevenly. Homes priced below Rs 2 crore have faced the greatest pressure, despite historically accounting for a substantial proportion of residential transactions in Mumbai.
At the market’s 2024 peak, this segment recorded approximately 30,000 units. However, sales declined by nearly 8% in 2025, reflecting growing affordability concerns and buyer fatigue, particularly among entry-level and mid-market purchasers. The trend has continued into 2026, with around 16,904 units recorded so far. The lower figure highlights the challenges facing mass-market housing as elevated property prices encourage households to approach purchase decisions more cautiously.
In contrast, homes priced above Rs 2 crore have maintained steady growth and gained market share, even as overall sales activity weakened. Liases Foras noted that the September quarter of 2026 was significant because this category did not experience the same decline observed in other price brackets. This resilience suggests that affluent homebuyers and investors remain active and may be less affected by changing borrowing conditions and short-term economic fluctuations.
Registration figures from the Inspector General of Registration further reinforce the trend. Transactions involving properties worth more than Rs 10 crore have increased consistently over the past three years, with no annual decline recorded in this category.
Homes priced between Rs 10 crore and Rs 20 crore account for nearly 74% of transactions above Rs 10 crore. Approximately 15% fall within the Rs 20–30 crore bracket, around 9% are valued between Rs 30 crore and Rs 50 crore, and roughly 2% fall between Rs 50 crore and Rs 200 crore. The data also records 11 transactions exceeding Rs 100 crore, representing about 1% of deals in the broader ultra-luxury category.
Pankaj Kapoor, MD of Liases Foras, said the luxury market’s growth over the past several years has been particularly pronounced in the post-pandemic period, but he cautioned the segment may now be nearing a plateau. “The luxury housing market has seen impressive growth over the past four to five years, particularly in the post-Covid period. However, it now appears to be approaching a plateau,” he said.
Kapoor also linked part of the demand to investors redirecting profits from financial markets into real estate, partly to optimise capital gains tax outcomes. With the stock market correcting approximately 15% from its peak, he cautioned that fewer investors may have substantial realised gains available to reinvest in premium housing.
Source: Times of India
