MUMBAI: The proportion of the ready yet-unsold housing inventory is around 3.5 per cent of the total unsold inventory in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region with Navi Mumbai being the worst hit, showed a report jointly released by developers' body Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India CREDAI ) and JLL India. The value of this ready-to-occupy inventory is over Rs. 2,430 crore. While the inventory overhang continues to be at a high level of over 30 months in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the report emphasised that not all of this is ready to occupy.Housing inventory levels continued to rise to record levels amid weak sales due to unaffordable prices even after developers offered various discounts and schemes.In Navi Mumbai, for instance, the proportion of completed apartments that are yet to be sold is at 8.13 per cent of the total unsold inventory.In Mumbai and Thane, 1.10 per cent and 1.33 per cent of the total unsold units are ready for possession, respectively.The inventory overhang in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, including Thane and Navi Mumbai, is more than 30 months, the report said. Only 2,600, or 3.35 per cent , of the total unsold inventory of 77,460 residential units have been completed in Mumbai as well as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Of the total unsold inventory , 5,311 units are priced above Rs. 5 crore, nearly 17,000 are priced between Rs. 2 and Rs. 5 crore. Over 35,700 units are priced between Rs. 65 lakh and Rs. 2 crore, while 19,500 units are priced below Rs. 65 lakh."There is slow absorption due to buyers holding on to their purchase decisions with the expectation of a price correction in this weak market. It also goes on to show how buyers prefer to buy into completed projects. Also, the market has become largely end-userdriven and investors no longer park funds in residential real estate as the high returns that it was once known for, have considerably diminished," said Ashutosh Limaye, national director, research, JLL India.The sluggish sales could also be due to most of these 2,600 units being priced over Rs 1 crore, which is unaffordable for many end-users. While developers may think ticket sizes offered by them are justified, the market seems to think otherwise. Though suburbs from Vile Parle to Goregaon have 205 completed-yet-unsold units Rs. 2 crore and above, a in the range of major chunk of the unsold units are concentrated in Navi Mumbai.Moreover, units priced below Rs. 65 lakh are situated in emerging areas of Navi Mumbai such as Ulwe, Karanjade, Dronagiri, etc., or on the far-away stretches off Ghodbunder Road in Thane.Some developers are already adapting to the changing consumer de mand. Buyers are put off by certain developers' track record and builders also need to realise that buyers will buy into their completed projects and thus should stick to their construction deadlines and manage their cash flow during the construction phase properly.Data showed that while 18 per cent buyers bought houses in the launch phase, 27 per cent bought houses nearing completion. Even after completion, it takes developers at least two quarters to sell out the entire remaining inventory.