Buying · 04 Apr 2026 · 9 min read
A senior broker walks through every step of buying a home in Pune in 2026 — from corridor choice and budget stress-test to MahaRERA, registration, and your first EMI.
Quick answer
Buying a home in Pune is a 12–16 week journey if you start cold. Cut it to 6–8 weeks by deciding your corridor, locking your budget, verifying MahaRERA, and using a fee-clear local broker. Skip portals — they multiply spam without sharpening your shortlist.
Step 1 — Pick your corridor before you pick a builder
Pune is a corridor-first market. Hinjewadi suits IT families who commute west; Kharadi suits east-side professionals; Kothrud and Erandwane suit established Marathi families; Koregaon Park and Boat Club Road suit ultra-premium and NRI buyers. Picking the corridor first narrows your shortlist by 80%.
Use our corridor index with current rate bands and lifestyle notes.
Step 2 — Stress-test your budget
Banks lend 60–80% of agreement value with EMI capped at ~50% of monthly take-home. Stress-test for a 200bps rate rise and an unexpected six-month income gap. Our EMI calculator projects 30-year scenarios; the affordability calculator stress-tests them.
Step 3 — MahaRERA verification
Every project over 500 sq.m or 8 units must register at maharerait.maharashtra.gov.in. Check builder + project name match, current committed possession (not original), quarterly progress reports, and the escrow account. Skip projects whose registration has lapsed.
Step 4 — Site visits
Visit at three different times: morning rush (commute), late afternoon (traffic), night (security and noise). Walk the actual corridor 500m around the project. Ride one bus / metro / auto from the project — not just look at it on a map.
Step 5 — Token, allotment, agreement, registration
Token is usually 1–2 lakh, allotment letter follows, then sale agreement (a binding contract) and finally registration at the sub-registrar office. Maharashtra stamp duty is 5% (male) or 4% (female / joint), plus 1% PMC/PCMC surcharge and 1% registration (₹30,000 cap on sale).
Step 6 — Possession, OC, society formation
Never take final possession without the Occupancy Certificate (OC). No OC means no utility connections, no clean resale title, and no society formation. Conveyance to the society should follow within a year — pending conveyance is a serious resale flag.