‘₹8 crore for chaos?’ Viral post on Bengaluru home prices triggers rent-vs-buy debate

A candid Reddit discussion on Bengaluru’s soaring property prices has struck a nerve online, with thousands of users weighing in on whether buying a home in India’s tech capital still makes financial — or lifestyle — sense. 

The thread was sparked by a 32-year-old Redditor who argued that purchasing a house in Bengaluru today offers “zero financial logic,” despite his ability to afford one. The user, who claims a net worth of around ₹7 crore and a monthly in-hand salary of ₹3.7 lakh, said he rents a 3BHK in Jayanagar for ₹35,000 — while the same plot is currently valued at nearly ₹8 crore. 

“Let that sink in,” he wrote, calling the rental yield “a joke.” Buying at these levels, he argued, would mean locking his entire wealth into “one illiquid asset” and hoping property prices keep climbing. 

He also rejected the idea of moving to Bengaluru’s crowded outskirts — Whitefield, Sarjapur, Varthur — describing them as chaotic, congested and poorly planned. “Not my scene,” he wrote. 

What surprised many readers was his comparison with Europe. “With similar money, in the right EU country, I can move toward long-term residency and own a better-planned property with sane infra,” he wrote. “More optionality. More diversification. Less daily chaos.” 

For now, he says he’s choosing lifestyle over ownership: renting in Jayanagar and investing capital elsewhere. 

The viral post unleashed a flood of responses from Indians in India and abroad, many echoing the sentiment while others challenging it. 

One user pushed back strongly against the “Europe is better” argument, writing: “It’s easier said than done… Try it out once and the delusion will vanish. My brother is in Germany since four years, getting PR now. I spent years in Australia, Europe and now heading to the US. No matter how much we harp about it, as a brown person, India is our best bet.” 

Another commenter, currently living in the UK, said Bengaluru’s prices now exceed those in parts of Britain. “This visit to Bangalore I am shocked to see how prices here are way more than in the UK… I feel priced out of my own city. My net worth is less than ₹2 crore and it feels risky to dump everything into a house. I see no quality-of-life improvement but prices double what they’re worth.” 

A third user argued the economics broke down long ago: “Buying a home stopped making sense in 2014. With income-tax changes removing indexation, real estate comes with 124% overhead — 100% to the home loan, 24% to the government… I won’t be surprised if your ₹8 crore plot becomes ₹4 crore.” The commenter also claimed that luxury-segment prices are mostly propped up by NRI buyers and warned that Hyderabad has already “beaten Bengaluru in its own game” as a tech hub.