It's that time of the year when real estate developers launch new projects to tap the festive demand. In fact, I have been noticing several housing project advertisements in Mumbai. The promotional material is rather ordinary as barely any of the ads register in the mind after first glance.
The headline pricing of the projects is rather aggressive. For instance, a 1BHK apartment is being offered for around Rs 50 lakh and a 2BHK is available in the Rs 70-85 lakh range. To the notoriety that Mumbai has attained in terms of home prices, it sounds appealing but a deeper look reveals the reason.
Shrinking apartment size
A 1 BHK apartment has been reduced to a tiny 225 square feet and a 2BHK apartment is barely 450 square feet. The size of a 2BHK apartment in Mumbai seems smaller than the size of a 1BHK in cities like Bengaluru and Gurugram.
Notwithstanding the terminology of 'smart homes, millennial homes' used by marketers, the reality is this - affordable homes in Mumbai are just tiny homes.
In comparison, the size of free apartments for slum dwellers has been rising prior to every election, as politicians scramble to get votes from these densely populated areas.
Slum redevelopment, or SRA, projects are where slums encroach on land. These slums are legalised and a redevelopment policy ensures that the resident are offered free apartments on a part of the land, while the other part is used for building apartments to be sold to home buyers.
The minimum size of the free apartments offered to slum dwellers under SRA projects is 300 square feet. But, in the largest-ever slum redevelopment project spread across 500 acres at Dharavi, the plan is to have a minimum apartment size of 405 square feet for slum dwellers.
Here’s the irony. Today’s slum redevelopment projects offer apartments that are bigger for slum dwellers who have encroached on land versus apartments built for a middle-class homebuyer. Mumbai real estate is seeing a phenomenon where a buyer of a smaller-size home is subsidizing a slum dweller for a bigger-size home. Surely that is an unfair deal for home buyers.
Personally, I am glad to see the size of apartments for slum dwellers at an honourable level. Everything is relative, but 300–350 square feet is considered bare minimum for habitation in most cities. Successive governments in the city have acknowledged that level by imposing a minimum size limit for slum dwellers. (A similar limit existed for home buyers previously as well)
My concern is that today there is no such limit when it comes to selling residential units to Mumbai’s middle-class. As the middle-class is not a united political force, they are ignored by politicians. They shouldn’t.
Housing is an emotive subject and the desire to own a home has in recent years pushed homebuyers into booking tiny apartments that are still being built. Homes are bought on the basis of paper plans and tactfully showcased sample apartments. On possession, there is a growing revolt as many buyers realise that their dream home is not liveable. Noted architect Reza Kabul comments bluntly on these nano apartments when he says "You are moving people from a chawl into another chawl."
What is the solution then? One: Governments impose a minimum size limit for home buyers as they have done for slum dwellers. That size can be benchmarked to the minimum size for slum dwellers. Example: SRA size + 10 percent. That will have an immediate impact.
The second example is linked to the market wherein buyers shun these sorts of nano apartments and thereby force a change in offerings from builders. It's a legitimate solution wherein the free-market has its way. I suspect these will happen once a big volume of poorly designed nano apartments see possession and buyers start highlighting the lack of liveability.
The first solution will bring out a structural change with instant impact. The second will bring about a difference over a period of time but in the interim, many buyers are likely to feel betrayed once they are handed over their apartments. Builders will get a bad name, as buyers make noise about being duped and deceived.
