Banks tell you the most they will lend. That is only one of three limits. On the same ₹25 lakh salary, the lender's limit allowed a ₹1.54 crore flat, comfort allowed ₹1.08 crore, and ₹25 lakh of savings allowed only about ₹54 lakh.
Even inside one sector, asking prices for flats differ a lot: in Sector 56, Gurgaon, the 25th to 75th percentile ran from ₹12,678 to ₹18,583 per sq ft across 534 listings. For a 1,300 sq ft flat that is a ₹77 lakh spread. Here is how to tell where yours sits.
A flat with a median asking price of ₹1.43 crore in Gurgaon rents for about ₹31,900 a month, roughly 2.7% of the price a year. A 9% loan on three-quarters of it costs about 2.5 times that in interest alone in year one.
Most property-vs-funds comparisons pit one asset's best decade against the other's average year. We put the same ₹1.07 crore into a rental flat and a fund for 10 years, counting rent, costs and the loan. Property only wins if prices grow fast, and a loan made it worse, not better.
The loan a bank will approve and the home you can comfortably afford are different numbers. We worked through three households on the same ₹40 LPA salary: their comfortable budgets range from about ₹1.19 crore to ₹1.81 crore, and each needs ₹49–69 lakh in cash up front.
Under-construction homes now carry higher average asking prices than ready ones in Delhi, Gurugram and Mumbai. But the real comparison is total cost over the same period. We modelled both, including a 12- and 24-month delay.