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@article{190131,
        author = {Samiksha Khemka},
        title = {Exploring the Role of Price Discrimination in Mumbai's Oligopolistic Urban Housing Market, Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {465-474},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190131},
        abstract = {Urban housing markets in developing cities are often characterized by land scarcity, income heterogeneity, regulatory constraints, and imperfect competition, all of which create conditions for price discrimination. This paper examines the extent to which price discrimination in Mumbai’s residential housing market has influenced the local developers’ revenue strategies and real estate agents’ market outcomes in the Juhu and Ghatkopar areas of Mumbai, Maharashtra, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in terms of transaction volumes and commission stability experienced by real estate agents during the post-pandemic recovery phase. The analysis includes concepts from urban economics, industrial organization, welfare economics, and regulatory economics, including oligopolistic pricing, hedonic price theory, surplus extraction, and demand segmentation under asymmetric information. Primary data was obtained through structured interviews with 30 residents and 1 real estate professional, combined with secondary data from government statistics, housing price indices, and industry research reports.
The findings indicate that Juhu exhibits income and price-inelastic demand, enabling developers to sustain higher mark-ups through premium pricing and quality differentiation, whereas Ghatkopar demonstrates greater price sensitivity, constraining mark-ups yet encouraging volume and affordability-oriented strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily reduced transaction volumes and increased construction costs. However, targeted policy inventions such as stamp duty reductions, regulatory deadline extensions under MahaRERA, and accommodative monetary policy mitigated the downturn and facilitated post-pandemic recovery. The study concludes that price discrimination, when aligned with demand heterogeneity and supported by credible regulatory frameworks, played a significant role in stabilizing revenue and market resilience in Mumbai’s residential housing sector.},
        keywords = {Price discrimination, Urban Housing markets, Oligopoly, Hedonic Pricing, Regulatory economics, COVID-19, Mumbai real estate.},
        month = {January},
        }