'Why Mumbai has just 154 skyscrapers?': Financial expert unpacks brutal math on middle-class housing

Why does Mumbai have just 154 skyscrapers—compared to 893 in New York and 3,316 in Hong Kong?
That’s the question financial expert Pranjal Kamra posed on LinkedIn, unpacking a tangled web of affordability collapse, distorted incentives, and flawed urban planning that’s crippling India’s housing dream.

“Between 2020 and 2024, household incomes grew at just 5.4% CAGR, while property prices surged at 9.3%,” Kamra wrote. The result? Homes priced under ₹1 crore have dropped 36% in just two years. “Affordability is shrinking fast,” he warned.

The problem, Kamra explains, is that developers are no longer chasing the mid-income market. “Margins on ₹3 Cr homes >>> ₹1 Cr homes,” he notes. With rising construction costs, high land prices, and financing hurdles, developers are flocking to the luxury segment instead. Supply in that category has exploded—up 192% in NCR, 187% in Bengaluru, and 127% in Chennai.

Kamra points to two affordability metrics that are flashing red. First, the Property-to-Income (PTI) ratio. In India, it stands at 11—more than twice the global benchmark of 5. “That means an average family would need to save 11 years of full income, without spending a rupee, to afford a home,” he writes.

Second, India’s EMI-to-Income ratio has hit 61%, far beyond the global comfort zone of 50%. That leaves families with just 39% of income for everything else.

Even when affordable homes are built, they’re often too far from job centers. “Outdated zoning laws and lack of master plans push supply to the wrong places,” Kamra explains.

He also flags two deeper issues choking affordability: India’s low Floor Space Index (FSI) and the black money economy. With limited FSI, vertical growth in crowded cities is stunted. Meanwhile, black money drives up prices artificially—through underreported sale prices and bulk cash deals.

Kamra illustrates the tax gap: “If you show ₹40 lakh on paper and pay ₹60 lakh in cash for a ₹1 crore flat, you save ₹12 lakh in taxes.” But it’s the honest, middle-class buyer who ends up paying the price—both literally and figuratively.