<\/p>
Bengaluru\u2019s skyline is filling up with \u201cSold Out\u201d boards, glossy hoardings and premium housing launches priced at \u20b92-3 crore. To an outside observer, the city appears to be in the midst of a sudden wealth boom. But according to chartered accountant Nitin Kaushik, the frenzy has less to do with rising affluence and more to do with rising leverage. \u00a0<\/p>
In a post on X (formally twitter), Kaushik described what he called the city\u2019s \u201c\u20b93-crore trap\u201d \u2014 a cycle in which salaried professionals are stretching their finances to buy expensive homes, often by committing a majority of their monthly income to loan repayments. \u00a0<\/p>
\u201cIf it looks like everyone is rich, you\u2019re probably looking at property prices, not balance sheets,\u201d Kaushik wrote, adding that his view comes not from billboards, but from income tax returns. \u00a0<\/p>
EMIs that own the month \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> Kaushik argues that most buyers in the premium housing segment are not purchasing homes with accumulated savings, but financing lifestyles almost entirely through banks. Home loans, car loans and, in some cases, personal loans are being layered together, pushing monthly EMIs to unsustainable levels. \u00a0<\/p> According to him, it is not uncommon to see EMIs consuming 60-70% of take-home pay for salaried clients. While such loan structures may appear manageable on spreadsheets, the reality is far more brittle. \u201cIn real life, the salary is over by the first week,\u201d he said, warning that even a short-term job disruption can force a complete financial reset. \u00a0<\/p> The traditional tax advantage on home-loan interest under Section 24(b), once a key incentive for homebuyers, has also lost relevance for many high-income earners. Instead of being a benefit, Kaushik notes, the home loan often becomes the single largest expense in a person\u2019s financial life \u2014 long before the house is fully owned. \u00a0<\/p> FOMO meets shrinking supply \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> The pressure to buy, Kaushik says, is being driven by fear of missing out rather than affordability. Property prices in Bengaluru rose an estimated 10-12% year-on-year in 2025, while new housing supply has increasingly skewed toward premium projects. Affordable housing, once a stabilising segment, has shrunk to single-digit proportions of new launches. \u00a0<\/p> As a result, buyers are rushing in not because homes fit comfortably within their cash flows, but because of anxiety that prices may rise further. \u00a0<\/p> \u201cWhat if it becomes unaffordable next year?\u201d has become a stronger motivator than \u201cCan I actually afford this today?\u201d \u00a0<\/p> Real cost of a \u20b92-crore loan \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> At current home-loan interest rates of around 8.5-9%, Kaushik estimates that a \u20b92 crore loan translates to a monthly EMI of roughly \u20b91.6-1.8 lakh. To manage that comfortably, a household would need a post-tax income of \u20b93.2-3.6 lakh per month just to maintain a sense of normalcy after paying the bank.<\/p> \u201cThat\u2019s not luxury,\u201d Kaushik wrote. \u201cThat\u2019s survival math.\u201d \u00a0<\/p> Beyond finances, he points to hidden costs that are harder to quantify \u2014 rising stress levels, reduced risk tolerance, and the loss of career flexibility as borrowers become locked into high fixed obligations. \u00a0<\/p> A credit cycle warning \u00a0<\/strong><\/p> Kaushik also flagged broader macroeconomic risks. India\u2019s household debt has crossed 40% of GDP in 2026, a level that suggests growing reliance on credit rather than organic wealth creation. \u00a0<\/p> \u201cThis doesn\u2019t look like a wealth boom,\u201d he warned. \u201cIt looks like a credit cycle heating up.\u201d \u00a0<\/p> His message to prospective buyers feeling left behind by rapid sales and soaring prices is a cautionary one: don\u2019t compare liquid savings with someone else\u2019s illiquid, highly leveraged asset. \u201cA house can be an asset,\u201d Kaushik wrote. \u201cBut a 70% debt-to-income ratio is not freedom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p> <\/div> Bengaluru property prices, Bangalore real estate boom, \u20b93 crore homes, home loan EMI stress, premium housing Bengaluru, FOMO home buying India, household debt India 2026, home loan interest rates India, Section 24(b) tax benefit#Bengalurus #3crore #home #boom #sheds #light #debt #story #billboards #show1770566025<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bengaluru\u2019s skyline is filling up with \u201cSold Out\u201d boards, glossy hoardings and premium housing launches priced at \u20b92-3 crore. To an outside observer, the city appears to be in the midst of a sudden wealth boom. But according to chartered accountant Nitin Kaushik, the frenzy has less to do with rising affluence and more to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[10056,10047,10046,10055,10060,8184,3725,10051,10057,10049,10053,10052,10059,10050,10054,10058,457,1014,10048],"class_list":["post-3078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-3crore","tag-bangalore-real-estate-boom","tag-bengaluru-property-prices","tag-bengalurus","tag-billboards","tag-boom","tag-debt","tag-fomo-home-buying-india","tag-home","tag-home-loan-emi-stress","tag-home-loan-interest-rates-india","tag-household-debt-india-2026","tag-light","tag-premium-housing-bengaluru","tag-section-24b-tax-benefit","tag-sheds","tag-show","tag-story","tag-3-crore-homes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}