Truth about India's realty prices: Underperfoming amid lofty projections

Global housing markets are appreciating much better

When actor Rajesh Khanna bought Rajendra Kumar’s bungalow in Mumbai for Rs 3.5 lakh in 1969, Kumar’s wife reportedly scolded her husband for selling it cheap. After Khanna’s death in 2012, the bungalow was reportedly sold for Rs 90 crore.

Real estate returns since the pandemic have been less spectacular. Despite pockets of outperformance, overall housing prices in India increased only 18.2 per cent between March 2019 and March 2024. Global prices increased 31.4 per cent, according to a ‘Business Standard’ analysis of data from the Bank for International Settlements, an organisation of global central banks. The