At 1.2L/sq ft, SoBo flat sale sets an India record

Mumbai: The property market may be down in the dumps, but Mumbai has once again recorded the most expensive apartment deal in the country. 

    A 28th-floor flat in Tahnee Heights, a residential skyscraper on Nepean Sea Road in south Mumbai, has sold for an eye-popping Rs 1.20 lakh a square foot. The 3,320 
sq ft (built-up) apartment with a covered parking garage of over 400 sq ft fetched around Rs 39 crore, sources familiar with the deal told TOI on Thursday. 
    The Bhimjyani family, which owned the flat, is believed to have sold the property to Jindal Drugs (S K Jindal), which already owns three apartments in Tahnee Heights. The Bhimjyanis, who are real estate developers, are shifting to Worli Sea Face. 
    Property market sources said the transaction that happened last week is a oneoff deal and does not reflect general market sentiments. Old buildings still in demand 
    Mumbai again recorded the most expensive flat deal in India. "Flats in such landmark buildings will continue to fetch premium rates despite the slowdown," said a property analyst. "It again proves that buildings constructed three to five decades ago are still much soughtafter," he added. 
    It was only four months ago that a flat in Cuffe Parade's Jolly Maker 1, India's richest housing society and a four-decade-old symbol of Mumbai's affluence, was sold at Rs 1.11 lakh per sq ft. It was hailed as a record then. The 21st floor flat with a carpet area of 2,590 sq ft fetched Rs 29 crore on January 27. It was sold by the Jagwani family, which runs a jewellery business, to Ashok Patni, one of the three brothers who own Patni Computers. Prior to that, the highest rate was Rs 37.25 crore for a 3,600 sq ft flat in Worli's Samudra Mahal in 2010. 
    In 2007, a 3,475 sq ft (super built-up) flat in NCPA Apartments at Nariman Point was bought by a London-based NRI at Rs 97,842/sq ft. Five years ago, actor Vinod Khanna and wife Kavita quoted an astounding Rs1.20 lakh per sq ft for a 2,500 sq ft flat in the B-wing of Il Palazzo on Little Gibbs Road, Malabar Hill. But the Khannas later scrapped the deal as they felt they had overbid. TNN