‘That’s less than half of Mumbai’s BKC rate!’: Uday Kotak after NY tower sells at 70% discount

A plush commercial building in New York that got sold for a massive 70 per cent discount left Uday Kotak in total awe. 

“Wow! That’s less than half the rate at Mumbai’s BKC,” the ace banker wrote in a reply to investor Nilesh Shah’s post on the building that got sold for $150 million against its last price of $500 million.

“A Manhattan office tower just sold at a shocking 70% discount to what it last sold for. The 778k sq ft tower at 222 Broadway sold for $150M. The building last sold for $500M back in 2014,” Shah posted, adding, “Even NYC is seeing massive distress and destruction in values for prime commercial real estate office buildings.”

Real estate prices across 13 Indian cities have reportedly seen a whopping 18.8 per cent jump on a year-on-year basis and 3.97 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the October-December 2023 quarter. Property registration in Mumbai have soared to a 12-year high in February. 

The maximum city that houses over 17.5 million people and witnesses sales of close to 1.54 lakh homes a year, is on a roll of late. Apart from buyers’ renewed thirst for homeownership, rapid infrastructure development in and around the city has boosted the real estate market in recent times.

During February, some 11,742 properties were registered in Mumbai – 21% higher than the 9,684 units that were registered in the same month in 2023. The number is also 7% higher than the number of properties registered in January this year. This growth marks the highest number of property registrations for any February in the last twelve years, underscoring a buoyant demand for real estate in India’s financial capital.

The prior peak in February 2022 was fuelled by heightened optimism and the release of pent-up demand as the pandemic effects diminished. However, the recent upsurge can be credited to rising income levels and a favourable sentiment towards homeownership.

According to Prashant Sharma, President, NAREDCO Maharashtra, the continued upward trajectory in 2024, not only represents a strong start to the year but also signals a healthy and resilient market environment. “We remain optimistic about the sustained growth and vitality of Mumbai’s real estate market, driven by favorable economic conditions, increasing income levels, and a collective aspiration towards owning property,” he says.