for 20 years goas property prices only rose the only question has been how fast rates will tick higher sums demanded and received per square metre more than quadrupled in two decades in a market fed by rapacious demand from the newly moneyed classes of india everything on the market went incredibly fast from tiny flats in giant complexes to every size of village houses to all categories of land this has been a lawless gold rush exactly like the broadest excesses of illegal mining that used to rule in indias smallest state every possible norm has been routinely flouted the entire regulatory system has become riddled with corruption a pernicious builderpolitician nexus now reignsexactly the same happened everywhere else in india so it would be unrealistic to expect vulnerable little goa to fight off powerful forces that have already subsumed the mega cities of the subcontinent such as delhi mumbai bengaluru chennai and hyderabad this tiny states real estate demand has been buoyed by ceaseless growth in the rest of the country newbuild flats and condominiums in the state were grabbed enmasse by metropolitan indians seeking second or third homes while heritage houses and other larger and much more highly priced properties found ready buyers from the rapidly burgeoning wealthiest one per cent of the countryjust as the goa property boom was always directly correlated to what happened in the rest of india there are now glaring signs that decline is on the way home sales around the country dropped steeply in 2017 to the lowest level recorded in almost a decade nearly 40 lower than 2011 according to property consultants knight frank india consumer confidence in real estate has plummeted new home launches are dramatically reduced in all major marketplaces down by over threequarters sales have declined for seven years in a row average home prices actually slipped lower 7 in pune and 5 in mumbaifor at least a decade many red flags were raised about indias property bubble it has always been apparent it is the beneficiary of much of the countrys unaccounted money across many markets including goa there has been a mystifying disconnect between rents and property values where the former remained stagnant even as buyers kept paying more to own this goes against every economic guideline and is the clearest possible indicator that real estate became a place to park undeclared cash add up environmental devastation and the devastating social damage suffered by communities subjected to unwanted real estate construction and the real costs of this artificial bubbles alleged development are staggeringly highthe greatest tragedy of the 21st century is watching so many countries pursue proven failed models like so many blindfolded lambs to slaughter there was no reason for goa to follow the very bad example of cities gone mad with construction such as delhi or bengaluru charles correa repeatedly warned mumbai about its inevitable fate if it did not seek enlightened urban planning solutions which he offered but the city heedlessly ground