Lodha Group to develop $185-mn township in Mumbai

Indian developer Lodha Group plans to invest about Rs 950 crore ($185 million) to develop a township in a Mumbai suburb targeted at middle-income buyers, as the slowing economy reduces demand for luxury apartments.

The Mumbai-based real estate developer aims to build 6,300 homes priced between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 24 lakh over 125 acres in Dombivali in north Mumbai over three years, said Abhisheck Lodha, a director at Lodha Group.

“There is a huge shortage of good quality middle-class housing in Mumbai,” Lodha said today, adding: “We are targeting households earning up to Rs 10 lakh a year, who form 40 per cent of Mumbai’s population.”

Developers, including DLF Ltd and Mumbai-based Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd, are cutting prices and increasing focus on cheaper homes to lure buyers. Property prices in some localities in Mumbai and New Delhi doubled in three years from 2005 as the economy and stocks posted record gains.