Manak Lakhotia, Director, Lakhotia Realty, has been building in this belt for years. What he has put together here is not what the market usually associates with that price. IGBC certification. A gated community. Over 25 lifestyle amenities. A clubhouse, a mountain facing infinity pool, solar powered community, landscaped courtyards, a gym. The specification reads like a project priced at five times what he is charging.
The conversation that follows is about the market first, and the project second. Edited excerpts:
Q. Let’s begin with Panvel as a market. Prices are up about 76% since 2021. The average is around ₹13,950 a square foot. A two-bedroom in the wider market runs ₹82 lakhs to ₹1.12 crore. Who is that market built for?
It is built for the buyer who can afford ₹80 lakhs and above, and that buyer is being served well. What interests me is the buyer just below that line. A household earning ₹50,000 a month. They live in this region. They work in this region. Many of them have been renting here for eight or ten years. Their income is stable, but at ₹50,000 a month, a ₹90-lakh flat is not a stretch. It is out of reach.
Q. So the issue is not willingness. Is it the price band?
It is the price band. And the price band moved because land moved, and land moved because the infrastructure arrived. That is not a complaint. That is how cities grow. The airport is operational. The corridor is coming through. Land values reflect that. The consequence is that the bottom half of the buyer pool has to look further out, or keep renting. We chose to build for them instead.
Q. Your product is at ₹25 lakhs. But you just described a solar powered gated community with a clubhouse, an infinity pool with a view, IGBC certification. That is not what people expect at this price?
That expectation is the problem. The word “affordable” has become a synonym for compromised — thin walls, no amenities, a building with a staircase and sometimes, a watchman. That is not what this is. This is a solar powered gated community with over 25 amenities. It is IGBC certified, which means the building is designed for lower water and energy consumption, better ventilation, and better waste management. Those things reduce the monthly cost of living for the resident. For a household at ₹50,000 a month, a lower electricity and water bill is not a luxury. It is meaningful.
Q. Talk about the buyer. Who is actually walking in?
Single earning member in most cases. Late twenties and early thirties. Often a young couple with one child or planning one. Many are first-generation buyers — this is the first home in the family. The work profile is airport-side, logistics, transport, retail, small business, and some in healthcare and education. A large number already live in Panvel, Kalamboli, Kamothe. Some commute in from Pen and Roha. They are not outsiders arriving on a promise. They are already part of this economy.
Q. That changes the nature of the purchase?
It does. They are not betting on a master plan. They are betting on their own job, which they already have. That is a much shorter distance between decision and confidence.
Now the part that decides whether the purchase happens at all. Walk with me through the arithmetic. Take a household at ₹50,000 a month. Rent in Panvel runs anywhere from ₹6,000 to ₹15,000. Say he is paying ₹10,000, somewhere in the middle. The EMI on a ₹20-lakh loan is about ₹17,000. If he carries both, he is putting ₹27,000 into housing every month. That is 54% of his income. Add school fees, medical costs, commute, and there is nothing left. At ₹15,000 rent, it is ₹32,000 — 64%. At that point the family is not considering a home purchase. They are managing a month.
Q. So the EMI on its own is serviceable. The EMI plus rent is not?
That is the exact problem. And it is not a problem of price. It is a problem of timing. Between booking and possession, the buyer is carrying two housing costs, and the household income does not stretch that far. So the purchase gets postponed. And by the time the family feels ready, the price has moved again.
Q. How did you address it?
We pay the rent until possession. The buyer pays the EMI. We pay the rent the customer is paying the landlord. During the construction period, the buyer is not carrying two housing costs.
Q. Is it a fixed amount, or do you cover the actual rent?
It covers the rent the buyer is actually paying. It is a flat ₹6,000 for 1bhk and ₹10,000 for 2bhk. The point is to remove the burden for that period, not reduce it. A reduced burden still leaves the family stretched. A removed burden gives them room to operate.
Q. And if construction takes longer than planned?
The commitment runs for the construction period. We plan the build cycle carefully, and if there is slippage at our end, we carry it. The buyer should not be absorbing a cost that came from our side of the table.
Q. Do you see this becoming common in the market?
Every developer will look at his own buyer profile. For a certain price band and a certain household, this structure makes sense. For another, it may not. What I can say is that the household earning ₹50,000 a month is a very large segment in this region, and it is a stable one. These are people with steady incomes, long tenures in the area, and a genuine desire to own. If you design a product and a payment structure that fits their life, they respond. We designed for them, and they came.
Q. You mentioned IGBC certification and 25-plus amenities. For a firsttime buyer, does that matter, or is it the price that closes the deal?
The price gets them to the site. The product closes it. When a family that has been renting a one-room home for ten years walks into a gated solar powered community with a clubhouse, an infinity pool, a gym, and landscaped open spaces, the decision changes from a financial one to an emotional one. They are not buying square feet. They are buying the neighbourhood they want their children to grow up in. That is true at every price point. It is not only the luxury buyer who wants a good address.
Q. What would you want a first-time buyer in Panvel to take away from this?
That a home in a gated community at ₹25-30 lakh is real, and it exists today. It is not a distant plan, and it is not a compromise. There are more households in this region earning ₹50,000 a month than there are households buying ₹90lakh flats. That segment deserves a good product, built to a proper specification, at a price they can actually service. That is all we set out to do.
