mumbai bandrakhar west mumbais costliest real estate belt outside the island city exemplifies the unrealistic property prices despite a market meltdown bandras carter road bandstand and pali hill are trying to catch up with cuffe parade and malabar hill prices in these upmarket suburban enclaves here have spiralled to between rs 40000 and rs 60000 a sq ft from rs 15000 per sq ft only six years ago in a recently completed luxury building on pali hill which was recently mired in controversy over construction violations the developer is believed to be quoting a mindnumbing rs 75000 sq ft carpet area and has sold apartments at close to rs 40 crore each recently a 1140 sq ft flat carpet on pali hill was sold for rs 7 crore a seafacing apartment of similar size on carter road has received offers of up to rs 9 crorethe owner wants rs 11 crore elsewhere in bandrakhar the average rate is rs 25000sq ft even tiny onebhk flats in old buildings are being quoted at rs 15 crore while 2bhks command around rs 3 crore in brand new towers builders demand 20 to 40 in cash upfront encouraging only those with black money to invest pankaj kapoor of liases foras a real estate research firm said prices in bandrakhar are symptomatic of the malaise in mumbais property market these are unproductive prices and builders quote unrealistic figures they are trying to equate bandra with napean sea road he said as prices reached dizzying heights bandrakhar became a prime example of civic lawlessness and urban chaos over the past decade the lucrative belt attracted the land mafia and a new breed of rapacious builders linked to politicians and the underworld who built luxury skyscrapers on tiny plots in narrow lanes which once housed quaint bungalows citizen activists consistently complained about the thriving nexus between local bmc officials and developers that led to haphazard development in this once peaceful suburb in many of the bylanes buildings have come up with no open spaces around them in some of the new constructions balconies and cantilever projections virtually touch the road line but things are about to change many flybynight builders who bucked the system by bribing bmc officers are slowly getting edged out of the bandrakhar market building rules which were amended by the bmc and approved by the state government last january have hit them hard and affected their profits local property market sources said around 20 plots bought by such builders at astronomical rates are now up for sale they were used to making 200 profits on each project by selling certain areas of the building illegally to flat purchasers the new rules have stopped this gross misuse said these sources another local developer said they have realized that plots they bought at high rates will not yield them the superprofits they earned over the years through manipulation these builders made a huge killing in the past decade by manipulating building concessions granted to