For Real Estate, Investors from Mumbai Prefer Dubai
Forbes
By Kenneth Rapoza
Mumbai real estate prices have been on a tear lately, with the city now around 50% more expensive than that capitalist Arab mecca of Dubai. Dubai has been the traditional second home for rich Indian investors and now that trend is accelerating with Dubai offering some bargains following the real estate slump there.
According to Economic Times of India, Mumbai's real estate prices have risen by 40-50% since 2009, leading some rich Indians to go off shore. In some areas of Mumbai, like in the far north, real estate prices have passed 2008 peak values.
Cushman & Wakefield thinks that Mumbai's hot real estate market will start to moderate following 2010 to first quarter 2011 appreciation.
Richard Green, Chair of University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate is the college's resident Indian housing expert. He says that unlike China, there is no nationwide concern over a real estate bubble in India. Mumbai, however, is a different animal.
"Mumbai's property market is probably overvalued, but what our guys in India tell is us, 'yeah, that is true, but India is different.' The good news on that difference is that this is a country that is not overly leveraged. The mortgage market in India is tiny, maybe $30 billion last year for a country of 1.2 billion people," he says.
"It's a market where most people are still buying in cash and will live with their families until they are able to buy a house in cash," he says.