Mumbai is the costliest city in the country to buy a property. Now, a report has quantified how tough it is to buy a home in the country's financial capital.

According to a report by personal finance portal Arthyantra, property prices in Mumbai have gone up by as much as 50 per cent over the last three years. That means it will take a mid-income professional (with a salary of Rs 8 lakh) 13 years to accumulate enough money for paying the down payment for buying a property in Mumbai, the report says.

Down payment is the margin money for a loan and for home loans it varies from 15-20 per cent of the property price. To calculate the time required to accumulate the down payment, Arthayantra assumed a savings rate of 25 per cent of income and salary hike of 10 per cent per year.

According to the report, Mumbai remains the city with the highest residential real estate prices followed by Delhi. It estimates average property price of 1000 sq feet in Mumbai to be about Rs 1.6 crore, while in Delhi to be Rs. 1.1 crore.

According to Arthayantra, those who earn less than Rs 25 lakh per annum should not buy a property in Mumbai.

The report termed 'Buy vs Rent' also analysed real estate markets across eight major Indian cities on parameters like price of residential properties, rental value and years required to accumulate the corpus for down payment.

Here are the findings (based on annual income of Rs 8 lakh):

1. It would take 10 years to accumulate enough money to fund the down payment on a property in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Like in Mumbai, those with incomes of less than Rs 25 lakh should rent a property.

2. It would take a person 6.5 years to save for down payment in Chennai. Those with income of Rs 20 lakh or above should buy a property in the city.

3. Time for accumulating down payment is just 5.8 years in Bengaluru. Those with income of more than 15 lakh per annum can buy a property in the city.

4. It would take 5.6 years to save for down payment in Pune.

5. In Kolkata, those earning Rs 12 lakh per annum can buy a home. It would take just 4.8 years to save for down payment here.

As per the report, average property price for 1000 sq feet in Kolkata is Rs. 49.9 lakh, in Pune Rs 59.4 lakh and in Chennai Rs 69.5 lakh.