A Mumbai homeowner who had rented out his apartment for several years recently sold his 513 sq ft 2BHK in Vile Parle East for ₹2.19 crore, offering a glimpse into buyer behaviour in one of the city’s most sought-after neighbourhoods. The sale, he said, was driven more by the buyer’s familiarity with the locality than by competitive bidding or urgency.
Real estate experts say this is typical of self-use resale transactions, where neighbourhood familiarity and emotional comfort often outweigh purely investment-driven considerations. Reflecting on the experience, the Redditor described the current resale market as ‘a buyers’ market,’ with purchasers enjoying stronger negotiating power and sellers needing to price their homes realistically to close deals.
Posting on Reddit, the owner said the 21-year-old apartment, located in a redeveloped building where his family were the original landlords, has a 513 sq ft carpet area (around 620 sq ft usable area), no parking, a higher-floor location, and limited amenities apart from automatic lifts and an intercom. The flat, which had newly renovated interiors, was initially listed for ₹2.45 crore but eventually sold for ₹2.19 crore.
According to the seller, the apartment was listed in March 2025, but the deal closed only in June 2026. While it received multiple enquiries, only three buyers made serious offers, highlighting the gap between buyer interest and transaction readiness in Mumbai’s premium residential market.
“Despite having six brokers actively showing the flat to clients, the person we sold to didn’t come through a broker, and the sale happened more because of familiarity. This is common in self-use resale deals. The market has definitely slowed down but there are still genuine buyers out there. Luring a buyer from buying a new or under-construction project to a ready-to-move unit is the real skill needed,” the seller posted on Reddit.
“Curious to know what others feel. When we first put this on sale back in March 2025, the expectation was ₹2.30 crore plus, but most offers we got were in the ₹1.90 crore to ₹2.05 crore vicinity. Definitely a buyer’s market right now, and we are grateful we received the token last week and are on course to close all proceedings by mid-August,” the seller said.
2BHK apartment listed for sale in Mumbai sparks debate
The post also sparked a debate on Mumbai’s housing sizes. One Reddit user remarked that compact 2BHK apartments in Mumbai are often too cramped, though they remain the only affordable option for many buyers in the western suburbs.
Another user from Bengaluru commented, “513 sq ft for a 2BHK? Isn’t that a matchbox?”, adding that they had bought a 1,220 sq ft 2BHK for ₹1.5 crore in Bengaluru.
Also Read: Mumbai real estate: Should you buy an apartment in an old building set for redevelopment?
A user from Delhi-NCR echoed the sentiment, saying, “Here in Delhi, we feel cramped in a 3BHK smaller than 1,300-1,400 sq ft. It’s a completely different reality there.”
The seller later posted on Reddit about the many replies regarding the 513 sq ft 2BHK. “Please understand that this was common during the 2000s when the builder would underplay the square footage on the agreement so 513 was anyway closer to 560. Plus they would pad up the flat with flower beds, storage ducts etc which when opened up make it well over 600 sq ft. At last measure, the flat was somewhere around 620 sq ft, and this is without taking in one full balcony,” the seller posted.
In Mumbai’s real estate market, more than 10,000 properties are typically registered each month, with residential transactions accounting for around 80% of the total. Among apartments sold, nearly 40% have a carpet area of up to 500 sq ft, about 50% fall within the 500–1,000 sq ft range, and the remaining 10% are larger than 1,000 sq ft, according to Knight Frank India’s March 2026 data.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Hindustantimes.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them)
