₹5 lakh EMIs for polluted sea views?: Advisor calls Mumbai housing a middle-class delusion

A home in Mumbai isn't a dream anymore, it's a 40-year financial sentence. In a post, wealth advisor Abhishek K says middle-class Indians aren't buying homes, they're buying "lifelong EMIs" wrapped in false promises and polluted sea views.

Abhishek K’s LinkedIn takedown of India’s housing obsession has struck a nerve. “The Harsh Truth: Middle-Class India Isn’t Buying Homes — It’s Buying Lifelong EMIs,” he writes, calling Mumbai real estate a trap that drains financial freedom under the guise of urban success.

The math is brutal. A basic 2–3 BHK flat in Mumbai costs ₹3–8 crore. With 20% down, families need ₹60 lakh–₹1.6 crore upfront. The rest? A crushing ₹2–6.4 crore loan. At 8.5% interest, monthly EMIs shoot up to ₹1.5–₹5.1 lakh — far beyond the reach of a middle-class salary.

“The affordability gap isn’t widening — it’s on another planet,” Abhishek writes. And the so-called luxury? “People pay crores for a seaview lifestyle… what they actually get is humid, polluted air evaporating from a dirty sea into which people literally relieve themselves.”

Meanwhile, in quieter corners of India — in Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan — families are building 2,000–3,000 sq ft bungalows for a fraction of the price. Gardens, clean air, real neighborhoods. “A lifestyle that is 10x better than what most Mumbai ‘rich’ experience,” he says.

Abhishek points to black money and speculation as the rot beneath soaring prices. The real estate market, he warns, is a bubble waiting to burst — but until then, millions will mortgage their futures for “overhyped” apartments and hollow prestige.

“This is not luxury. This is collective delusion,” he writes. “The real question isn’t: Can you buy a home? It’s: Is a shoebox apartment in an overhyped city worth 40 years of your life?”