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Real Estate Mumbai “Quite” after Attacks
India’s worst terrorist attack in 15 years has caused Mumbai’s property market, already faltering in a slowing economy, to grind to a halt. “The market’s gone completely quiet,” said Shiv Kumar Dembla, a property broker who owns Shiv Real Estate Consultants in Mumbai. “The future doesn’t look bright either. The last six months were quiet, but now it could get worse.” The city’s home sales dropped 21 percent in the seven months to Oct. 31, according to estimates from UBS AG. That was before terrorists held south Mumbai under siege for almost 60 hours, with attacks on luxury hotels, a railway station and a Jewish center leaving more than 195 people dead last week.
Terrorists targeted the foreigners who helped make Mumbai the world’s second-most expensive city for offices last year, as companies including Macquarie Group Ltd. and Barclays Plc sought space in India’s financial capital. Now, apartment buyers are walking away and developers may be forced to shelve projects as companies rethink the risks of doing business in India, brokers and analysts said. Mumbai, which accounts for a third of India’s taxes, is home to the nation’s central bank and primary stock and commodity exchanges, as well as its largest companies and the local headquarters of overseas firms such as Citigroup Inc. and Barclays. The city is the world’s sixth most-expensive in terms of apartment rentals, and ranks second in Asia behind Hong Kong, according to a survey released by ECA International in April.
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