'Two incomes, no home': India’s housing market is rigged against middle class, says advisor

Buying a home in India’s metros has become a near-impossible dream for the average salaried couple—even with dual incomes. Siddharth Mukund, founder of a wealth advisory firm, says the real crisis isn’t income, it’s access—and what’s broken is the supply.

“Our parents bought a 3BHK with a single salary,” Mukund wrote on LinkedIn. “Today, most of us can’t afford an apartment even with dual incomes. And the primary reason isn’t what you think.”

According to Mukund, India’s housing market suffers not just from high demand, but from a catastrophic mismatch in what’s being built. In metros, the population-to-housing supply ratio stands at a staggering 10:1. By contrast, many developed nations operate at 3:1 or even 2:1—giving citizens a far smoother entry into home ownership.

India, Mukund notes, has over 11 million vacant urban homes, yet still faces a shortage of 19 million units, largely in the affordable housing segment. “The problem isn’t just supply. It’s affordable, livable supply,” he emphasized.

Much of this disconnect, he argues, stems from the fact that developers focus on luxury housing—chasing margins and investor money—while the real demand lies in starter homes for first-time buyers. “It’s not just scarcity; it’s a distribution mismatch,” he wrote.

Structural issues compound the problem: land politics, floor space index (FSI) constraints, investor speculation, and flows of black money all distort the market. And caught in the middle is the middle class.

“Everything except the average salaried Indian with a dream and a home loan,” Mukund writes.