Curation Team
Lodha Developers has acquired over 945 apartments as permanent transit camp (PTC) units in Mumbai’s eastern suburb of Mankhurd from another real estate developer in a transaction valued at Rs 567 crore.
This is the largest SRA-linked asset transfers recorded so far and reinforces the growing trend of offsite PTC fulfilment in Mumbai’s real estate market.
The transaction involving bulk purchase of apartments includes a total built-up area of 3.39 lakh sq ft and is a compliance-driven move.
The company has paid stamp duty of Rs 34.02 crore for the registration of the bulk transaction that took place on June 3, showed documents accessed through realty data analytics platform CRE Matrix.
A Permanent Transit Camp refers to ready-built housing units that developers construct or acquire to temporarily or permanently house project-affected people–usually slum dwellers or tenants–under SRA schemes or redevelopment projects.
One of the company’s ongoing projects involving slum rehabilitation in Vikhroli suburb mandates the developer to hand over more than 50,000 sq meter of constructed area to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority for PTC purposes.
“This is a classic example of how larger developers are using asset-backed planning to meet regulatory obligations while optimizing timelines. For the developer, this is usually both a strategic and a tactical purchase,” said a senior real estate consultant.
With limited land availability in Vikhroli and long gestation periods associated with in situ construction, Lodha is looking to fulfil this obligation through an offsite transfer of built-up area.
ET’s email query to Lodha Developers remained unanswered till the time of going to press.
These residential units, once completed, will be handed over to the SRA, allowing Lodha to meet its rehabilitation commitment for the Vikhroli project. The seller reportedly holds over 83,000 sq meter free sale component in Mankhurd, making the location suitable for such a transaction under SRA norms.
With this deal, the seller has monetized part of its free sale inventory, while Lodha will achieve quicker compliance for its Vikhroli project without additional construction delays. The transaction also indicates the growing relevance of eastern suburbs like Mankhurd in Mumbai’s redevelopment story.
Transactions like these are expected to rise as Mumbai’s redevelopment momentum accelerates, driven by the twin pressures of tighter delivery timelines and increasingly stringent compliance frameworks.
With limited availability of vacant land in core city areas and growing regulatory scrutiny, developers are opting for quicker, asset-backed solutions like offsite PTC fulfilment. This trend is likely to continue as large-scale urban renewal projects gain pace across the city’s eastern and central suburbs.
