MHADA DREW 2,640 HOMES. 424 OF THEM NOBODY WANTED.

HPT COVER DESK | MUMBAI The Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority conducted the Mumbai Board's computerised lottery for 2,640 tenements on 6 August 2026 at noon, at the Rangsharda Auditorium in Bandra West. The draw was live-streamed on the Authority's official channels, and results were published on the MHADA portal immediately after the draw. The application window opened on 30 March 2026 and closed on 28 May 2026. In under two months the Authority received 97,613 applications — roughly twenty-eight applicants for every tenement. The draw had earlier been postponed on account of the model code of conduct during the Legislative Council election. By the ordinary arithmetic of Mumbai housing that ratio should have meant every flat was spoken for many times over. Reports of the scheme record that 424 flats received no applications at all — a zero-application outcome that would be rare in the Mumbai Board's history and almost unheard of in an open category. That figure has not been confirmed by an official post-draw MHADA release traced by this newspaper and is carried here as reported. Separately, and independently corroborated, 610 flats in Vikhroli were shifted from the middle income group to the higher income group ahead of the draw, in response to weak demand in the MIG band. The tenements were spread across Vikhroli, Goregaon, Borivali, Gorai, Chembur, Bandra, Ghatkopar, Wadala, Powai and Dadar. These are not distant or unserviced pockets; they sit on or near the suburban rail and metro spine. Location is not the explanation. Price is. On market-reported advisory estimates — not an official MHADA price list — flats in the middle income group in hubs such as Bandra, Dadar and Powai fall in a band running from about Rs 1.50 crore to Rs 5 crore, while higher income group pricing is put at about Rs 5 crore rising to around Rs 6.82 crore in locations such as Tardeo and South Mumbai. MHADA prices are governed by carpet area, location and the income category to which a flat is assigned, and are ordinarily subsidised relative to the open market because the Authority acquires stock through direct construction and through redevelopment mandates under DCR 33(5) and 33(7). Subsidised relative to the open market is not the same as affordable in absolute terms. A flat priced at Rs 5 crore sits outside the financing capacity of the household that the phrase 'middle income group' is ordinarily understood to describe. Where subsidised inventory in that band draws no applications, what the draw exposes is a mismatch between the income categories used for classification and the incomes actually present in the applicant pool. That is a policy classification question, not a suggestion that any figure was misstated by the Authority. For readers in Mira-Bhayandar, Thane, Bhiwandi and Vasai-Virar, the significance is not the lottery itself but the signal it sends about the top of the market. Mumbai's premium inventory is now visibly outrunning its buyer base. Historically, when the island city and near suburbs stall at the top, developer attention and launch volume migrate outward along the western and central corridors. That migration has consequences on the ground: greater land acquisition interest in redevelopment-eligible plots across the MMR belt, more societies approached with development proposals, and sharper competition among promoters for consent from ageing societies. The second signal concerns the EWS and LIG bands, where demand remained intense. The queue is at the bottom of the price ladder, not the top. Any response that does not add supply in those two bands will not shorten it.

मुंबई मंडळाच्या २,६४० घरांच्या सोडतीत उच्च किंमत गटातील घरांना एकही अर्ज नाही; परवडणारीचा प्रश्न पुन्हा ऐरणीवर म्हाडाच्या मुंबई मंडळाची २,६४० घरांची संगणकीय सोडत ६ ऑगस्ट २०२६ रोजी वांद्रे येथील रंगशारदा सभागृहात पार पडली. अर्ज कालावधीत तब्बल ९७,६१३ अर्ज दाखल झाले होते. मात्र तपशील वेगळेच चित्र उभे करतो. ४२४ घरांसाठी एकही अर्ज आला नसल्याचे वृत्त असून ती बहुतांश उच्च उत्पन्न गटातील महागडी घरे आहेत. विक्रोळीतील ६१० घरे मध्यम गटातून उच्च गटात वर्ग करावी लागली. प्रश्न उपलब्धतेचा नाही — किमतीचा आहे. सविस्तर वृत्त पान २ वर. मागणी तळाशी, पुरवठा वरच्या टप्प्यावर — शासकीय गृहनिर्माणातील ही तफावत यंदा उघड झाली म्हाडाच्या सोडतीतील आकडेवारी दोन गोष्टी एकाच वेळी सांगते. एक — मुंबईत घरांची भूक प्रचंड आहे; ९७,६१३ अर्ज हेच त्याचे प्रमाण. दोन — ती भूक कोणत्या किंमत गटात आहे, हे शासनाच्या वर्गीकरणाशी जुळत नाही. आर्थिकदृष्ट्या दुर्बल घटक आणि अल्प उत्पन्न गटात अर्जांची रांग लागलेली असताना, वरच्या किंमत गटातील घरांना अर्जच न येणे, हे उत्पन्न गटांच्या धोरणात्मक वर्गीकरणातील तफावत दर्शवते. बाजारभावापेक्षा स्वस्त म्हणजे परवडणारे नव्हे. हा वर्गीकरणाचा प्रश्न आहे — प्राधिकरणाने आकडेवारी चुकीची मांडली असा त्याचा अर्थ नाही. एमएमआर पट्ट्यातील वाचकांसाठी याचा अर्थ स्पष्ट आहे — मुंबईतील महागड्या घरांना ग्राहक मिळत नसतील, तर विकासकांचे लक्ष ठाणे, मीरा-भाईंदर, भिवंडी आणि वसई-विरारकडे अधिक वेगाने वळणार. जुन्या सोसायट्यांकडे पुनर्विकासाचे प्रस्ताव येण्याचे प्रमाण येत्या काही महिन्यांत वाढण्याची शक्यता आहे.