A LinkedIn post has sparked a debate over Mumbai increasingly becoming an ‘exit city’ for single professionals, as rising living costs push many young workers to relocate to other parts of the country.
The post noted that for a single professional in the financial capital, the options of buying a home are limited. One is the so-called ‘matchbox’ existence, in which you pay ₹1.25 crore for a cramped apartment, sometimes so compact that the bathroom opens into the kitchen, trading comfort for a coveted address.
The other is the ‘mortgage trap,’ stretching finances to the brink to purchase a 2BHK that may not even be necessary, effectively surrendering the next two decades of financial freedom to a bank. The third option is to rent a house permanently.
The LinkedIn user said, “If you are a single professional in Mumbai, the city isn’t just expensive. Look at the numbers. In 2025, the launch of studio apartments collapsed to just 790 units across the entire MMR. That’s a five-year low. Developers aren’t running out of land for small homes; they are making a strategic choice to stop building them. Why sell a studio to a young professional when you can force them into a “1.5 BHK” that boosts the project’s IRR but destroys the buyer’s monthly budget?”
The post described the three options available to young professionals in the financial city. The user noted that the first option is to buy the “Matchbox. You pay ₹1.25 crore for a unit where the bathroom opens into the kitchen. You compromise your dignity for an address. The second option is take the “Mortgage Trap.” You leverage yourself 10x to buy a 2BHK you don’t need, effectively signing over your financial freedom to a bank for the next 20 years.”
“The third option the user posted is to rent forever. But wait, landlords are pulling inventory due to aggressive TDS tracking, and co-living spaces are getting slapped with 18% GST on maintenance,” the post said.
“The system is pushing talented people out. I’m seeing reverse migration not just because people want “slow living,” but because the math of urban ambition no longer works. We talk about building “Smart Cities,” but we are building “Exit Cities”, places that extract value from young talent until they can no longer afford to stay. The contrarian view? This isn’t a housing crisis; it’s a demographic eviction. And if Mumbai loses its young workforce, who will work in those shiny new BKC offices?”
Responding to this post, a user commented, “This hits hard because it’s true. Mumbai isn’t becoming unaffordable by accident; it’s being priced for balance sheets, not for the people who actually power the city. When entry-level housing disappears, talent eventually follows.”
Another user said that developers are betting on families and investors, ignoring the demographic shift towards delayed marriage and single living.
“There is a huge opportunity for a builder who zigs when everyone else zags, building high-quality, dignified micro-housing for the modern workforce,” a user commented.
Studio apartment launches decline in Mumbai’s residential real estate market
Studio apartments, also known as one-room kitchens (RKs), have fallen to a five-year low in Mumbai, with only 790 units launched in 2025, the lowest in this period, according to Maharashtra RERA data.
In 2024, 832 studio apartments were launched, followed by 1,704 in 2023, 1,129 in 2022, and 1,518 in 2021, according to MahaRERA data.
Further, while studio apartments accounted for just 2 per cent of the total 42,643 launches in the Mumbai real estate market in 2025, studio, 1 BHK, and 2 BHK apartments accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all launches.
In 2025, as many as 23 per cent of units, or over 10,000 units, were 2.5 BHK, 3 BHK, 3.5 BHK, and 4 BHK apartments. Additionally, 790 studio apartments were launched in 2025, as per the data.
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