i think I am the first one to comment. These are good pictures!

Look beautiful!

Owning a home in Mumbai is dream for middle class now..

In Mumbai you feel overwhelmed by the population and humbled by the structures. You are a speck of sand in a dust storm...

@Pragmatic - True...slums can be "beautiful" for some!

@Sanjoy Sankar Guha - You are a speck of dust ANYWHERE in India. Such is the population.

this same article appeared on the thenational.ae newspaper in UAE along about 6 or 7 buildings

Buying a flat in Burj Khalifa Dubai is cheaper than buying in Mumbai. I can get beautiful independent house for within 5 crore INR in London, where as in Mumbai, I may not get the same size independent house even for 10 crore INR.

@Malatesh - Awesome! Nice to know you are wealthy.

This may looks good to some but living in such area is not that easy and simple with lack of light and fresh air.

I am more than happy in Islamabad which is so modern and developed with planning. After that i would either Lahore or Mumbai.

I must say the mega cities in Pakistan like Lahore and Karachi have much more better living standard than Mumbai. Islamabad is exceptional and modern city which is world 3rd Capital to be constructed with proper planning and management so i am not including it.

Beautiful pictures, ugly Mumbai. A paradise and a paradox.

@Malatesh Not like that, the cheapest flat in Burj khalifa is 1400 USD per sq.ft. That is a 1000 sq. ft apartment will cost you 14 crore Pakistani rupees or close to 10 crore Indian rupees.

Apparently, there is no difference between Karachi and Mumbai (Bombay) influx of population was due to economic booming in both the cities, upcountry from India people moved in search of livelihood, easily found with measure amount, then there was Film Industry which provided Jobs to the talented writers and artists, in the beginning Hindi film producers, were very optimistic for their progress, due to saga of partition, there was a big rush of migrant from Pakistan----so a very popular song did appear in Bombay streets " ya hai bombay meray Yaroo, zara hat ke zara bach k yi hi bombay". Jobless from interior of India Up, Cp, and from settled cities like Hyderabad Daccan, Kulkat and Bombay, Muslim comunity found Pakistan --a Karachi city a favorable place to earn two time meals.The buildings shown in news report were same in Karachi, in fifty decade, I had seen, the time when Ayub Khan took over and planned to shift capital to Islamabad.

Author what you attribute in this article. Maharashtra with a population of 10crore has an economy of 300bn more than neighbouring terrorist economy.it has more skyscrapers than envy other major cities.people .India will hold an economy of 8 trillion and pakistan,if exist will be near 450bn.Mumbai is indias pride.so,author promote more anti india articles and get mind peace.

This goes to prove that this publication has insatiable thirst to show India in the worst light possible and then claim to be unbiased and wanting good relations with all their neighbors. Drop this facade and hatred try and publish something positive and good and for the sake of fairness do not edit comments that are critical of your report.

Sorry dawn. I stay in mumbai but is this the best you got? Mumbai has some amazing buildings, old bungalows. More that just mumbai, it depends on the location also. New Bombay is cheaper than the suburbs. Suburbs are cheaper than south Bombay. The prices basically increase from north to south if you see the map of mumbai.

Superb photos. I am amazed to see so many windows air-conditioners. From what I have heard there is absolutely no electric power outage in Mumbai.

@Harmony-1 Everything has a beauty...even you may have some!

@Malatesh same is the case here in Islamabad,,,u can't buy a house even in 200 million PKR

@Harmony-1 . Ask the people who live there.

@anees from zaida - That is not true. I have been to Northern state of Indian Punjab and it is totally different to Bombay. Each state is different. In Punjab, they have huge houses and population is not dense at all. Do a google search "houses in indian punjab" and you can an idea how it is there...

@Gokul gopinath : Thank you for the RSS version on the article. Most Indians that comment here are fair minded with an open view so I know where you are coming from...

@Malatesh The comparison does not mean anything...All developed countries makes sure that housing is affordable to average houshold. Only in developing countries, with the money circulating in few hands couples with no housing planning raises to these and/or similar issues.

wow..seems quiet expensive comparitively to Karachi...

after seeing those pics now I love my native city "Karachi" the most!!

@Gokul gopinath wrong figures dude...the population of Maharashtra in 2011 was 11.6 crores and the economy 240 billion USD, now with the upsurge in population in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and other areas due to economic activities it must be more, wait for the new census. BTW the economy of Pakistan, its GDP is 260 billion USD in nominal terms and 940 billion USD in purchasing power parity, check Wikipedia, WB, IMF figures. The per capita GDP is almost same, that is 7.5 times population size and 7.5-8 times GDP size. Here I am not mentioning the undocumented economy which makes it larger.

Sorry folks, but IMHO many (all?) of these buildings are as hideous as those in Dharavi as no sense of design, symmetry, cleanliness or concern for human beings who'd reside in them. For the amount of bucks being charged in rent or purchase price seems like a crime. Vertical slums whose owners show no regard for how their homes appear from outside. The new buildings show the same lack of aesthetics that the older ones do. A humble hut in the village would be preferable. Anyhoo, that's the way things are, I guess. I cannot even imagine a country which is projected to have 1.8 billion people in a few decades.

Would rather live outside Bombay, maybe 30, 40 even 50 miles away and take the daily commute by train. So much hassle free.

@Suraj Kapoor You seem to be a sunny personality in believing everything that you read. But presence of air conditioners does not mean presence of 24/7 power availability. In Gurgaon (suburb of New Delhi), companies and homeowners (single or in a high rise) use generators, instead of relying on a public utility. Perhaps the same is true for Mumbai. Extremely inefficient, expensive, and polluting. But, I suppose, gets the job done.

@Gokul gopinath The article is via Thomas Reuters news service.

Unlike Delhi, every building in Mumbai is built with private funds.

I am from Mumbai and Mumbai has functional houses. 24X7 water, electricity and security. Peddar Road is one of the most beautiful locations with sea facing flats and old building/bungalows. New Bombay is well planned with wide roads and connectivity. Dharavi and Kurla are the biggest slum/lower middle class areas in the centre of Mumbai which supply low cost manpower.

@y Also New Bombay/Mumbai is largest planned city in entire world. In terms of area and facilities too.. world includes Islamabad too

Dear DAWN , many thanks for publishing Details regarding HOUSING PROBLEM in Bombay, I am residing in Bombay since 35 years , even in far places like Borivili cost of a 1 BHK was around Rs. 50 Lakhs just 5 years back but present Value is around Rs. One Crore, reason being BOMBAY IS A PENINSULA -covered by SEA on 3 sides . Naagu

I don't see any difference in Bombay and Karachi

I see aspiration in this blog.A person comes from hinterland,stays at IR 5 per sq ft.Then makes a living or makes it big to move to $400 per sq ft then to $1000 per saq ft. How does he make it films,business or mafia. Perhaps karachi or Decca are same. Moral: Migrants make city grow

Stop saying Mumbai & Karachi are similar Alone Mumbai's GDP is US$ 220 billion compared to Pak's GDP of US$ 255 billion. There are NO Karachi type security operations going in Mumbai 20 images are not going to tell the entire truth of Mumbai and its 130 million inhabitants

Even in Karachi Pakistan, a wide flat in luxury area like Defence or clifton may cost under 1.5 crore PKR with three bedroom and 2500 sq.feet. Mumbai seems to be very very costly to survive even like a slum. No wonder why Film stars like Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar couldn't find a flat in Mumbai

@Zack Khan - Rather than bemoaning the government to do something about the plight of people living in Dharavi shanties, good of you to deflect it and get touchy!

@last comment Karachi doesn't have as many apartment buildings and the designs are very different, moreover Karachi has far more unbuilt land and houses, property is also cheaper in Karachi and that's cause Karachi has half the population density Mumbai does.

I don't like Mumbai's skyline frankly saying. Buildings are not actually skyscrapers, they are actually huge dirty looking concrete bundles. Thank God in Pak's mega cities people could afford a home much easily than in Mumbai...!! Indian Govt should also look for the poor people rather than just letting investors to build for rich.

The rents in South Mumbai is very high than the 12000 mentioned. This rent possibly available in the distant suburbs in places such as the shanties (zopadpatti) or chawls. For information a person owning even a shanty is a lakhpati because he can command a selling price of between 20 to 25 lakhs atleast. I love my mumbai

Does it look like too much uncontrolled migration?

I live in Northern Suburbs of Mumbai and yes in my own apartment. I am a typical middle class muslim and love the cosmopolitan nature of the city. All those who are passing negative comments about Mumbai have never even seen the city except maybe in films. BTW Dharavi is home to many small and micro enterprises. These pictures do not represent entire Mumbai. I would never exchange it for any other place on earth.

@Mumbaikar How childish, the Mumbai GDP you mentioned is purchasing power parity, cities GDP are measured like that, and the GDP you mentioned of Pakistan is nominal GDP, two totally different scales of measurement. Pakistan purchasing power GDP(PPP) is 940 billion USD, check wikipedia, or Google search Pakistan GDP or Pakistan economy. Most people do this mistake inadvertently.

How about some similar pictures from Karachi or Lahore? Wonder if any Indian newspaper has shown such graphic images from Pakistan's large cities! I for one have not seen any. Yes, there is poverty in India and filth and dirt. But, Mumbai is a great city and is the engine of India's economy. If this webpage is just trying to show what Reuters has captured, I would like Reuters to also capture pictures from large cities of Pakistan!

A lot of commentators are talking about Mumbai and Karachi. They indeed are very similar cities in terms of their function in the national economy and the plurality of their population. The importance difference between the two though is that Mumbai has a much more mobile and efficient labor market due to the public transport system and its compactness as a city. There are secondary differences due to the differing nature of politics and the mafia in the two cities.

Also, being a Mumbaikar, I actually found these pictures very interesting and a great way to look and understand this megapolis.