CIDCO lottery or a private flat: check the ₹6 lakh line first

Rent keeps going up, and someone at home keeps saying the same thing: wait for CIDCO (the state body that planned Navi Mumbai and still builds homes here). Is it worth waiting at all? There’s one number to check first.

A government flat sounds safe. But a draw means waiting, and you don’t pick the flat.

My honest answer: no draw is open today, for anyone. Check your family’s income. Under the limit, register and compare by the square foot when the next draw opens. Above it, CIDCO’s first-come flats and private flats are your options.

In the three places we checked, a low-priced private flat cost less per foot than CIDCO’s. You should know: we help families buy private flats, and we don’t handle CIDCO allotments. So I’ll put CIDCO’s own figures beside ours, and you decide.

The latest CIDCO lottery closed in September, and its draw is done

CIDCO’s August 2026 scheme closed for booking on 3 September and drew its winners on 11 September 2026.

We couldn’t find why winners were fewer than applications. CIDCO’s site gives no date for the next draw.

To enter it, you register on cidcohomes.com at any time, list the flats you’d like, and pay a booking amount. For EWS homes that was ₹75,000, refunded if you don’t win.

4,229 of the homes are in Taloja Sector 39. The rest are at bus depots in Kalamboli and Kharghar.

The ₹6 lakh income line decides the lottery for most couples

That lottery was only for EWS (economically weaker section) homes. CIDCO’s booklet adds your income and your spouse’s together, over the last 12 months.

The limit is ₹6 lakh a year. That’s about ₹50,000 a month for the whole home.

So two salaries of more than ₹25,000 a month each already cross it. HRA (house rent allowance) isn’t counted, but bonus is. Where do yours land? Three more rules apply:

• No pucca house (a proper, all-weather home) in your family’s name, anywhere in India.
• At least 15 years in Maharashtra, shown on a domicile certificate (proof of where you’ve lived).
• Age 18 or more when you register.

Above the line, the court stepped in. On 25 March 2026, the Bombay High Court paused the allotment of about 25,000 flats built under the central housing scheme. It also paused handing over keys to families still waiting.

About 10,000 of those flats were open to families outside EWS, LiveLaw reported. In late July the court kept that pause in place until it hears the case in full.

A hearing was listed for 16 October; we found no report of its outcome.

No CIDCO lottery draw is open today, for anyone. Above the EWS line, CIDCO has put draws on hold until the court decides.

Above the line, CIDCO’s first-come sale is the door still open

CIDCO also sells some finished flats first-come, first-served, with no draw. It reopened that sale in September 2026.

Of about 3,000 flats, around 2,500 are outside EWS. You pick a flat from what’s left, and you get the keys once you’ve paid in full.

They’re in Taloja, Kharghar, Kalamboli, Dronagiri and Ulwe. Urban Acres says the Taloja and Dronagiri prices are fixed at 2022–23 rates.

We couldn’t find per-flat prices or income rules for these flats, and we haven’t checked them. See what’s left on cidcohomes.com, and ask CIDCO in writing for each price and whether you qualify.

By the square foot, a low-priced private flat cost less in all three places

Compare the price per square foot (what each square foot of floor costs you), and a low-priced private 1 BHK we’ve checked beats the CIDCO flat in each place.

Place	CIDCO per foot (after subsidy)	Private per foot
Taloja	₹7,900 (₹7,100)	₹6,900
Kalamboli	₹12,900 (₹12,100)	₹8,000
Kharghar	₹14,900 (₹14,100)	₹10,500

• Taloja: CIDCO’s flat is ₹23.50 lakh. Sai Shri Narayana starts at ₹25.28 lakh.
• Kalamboli: CIDCO’s is ₹37.70 lakh. Riddhi Siddhi Apartment starts at ₹31.44 lakh.
• Kharghar: CIDCO’s is ₹43.50 lakh. Sai Mannat starts at ₹36 lakh, so it’s cheaper in plain rupees too.

The bracket takes off the ₹2.5 lakh PMAY grant (government help for a first home) for eligible EWS buyers. The private flat still costs less per foot.

Both sides use the legal carpet area (the floor you can walk on). CIDCO’s site also shows 322 sq ft “usable”, but that counts the balcony and ducts.

Three fair cautions. Each private price is the builder’s cheapest flat, before tax and registration (our stamp duty guide has those). We couldn’t find whether CIDCO’s price includes GST. And the private flats are in other sectors, so compare addresses too.

The monthly payments are closer than the prices

For the Taloja pair, the EMI (the fixed monthly loan payment) is about ₹19,700 on the private flat. On CIDCO’s, after the subsidy, it’s about ₹16,400.

That’s our own sum on a 90% loan at 8.5% a year, over 20 years.

Sai Mannat in Kharghar, with the 80% loan banks allow above that size, comes to about ₹25,000 a month.

On ₹50,000 a month, the Taloja private EMI takes about two-fifths. Lenders often allow around half of income for EMIs, so it fits, with little room left. Other loans and your credit score change this, so the EMI check uses your real numbers.

At the line, the lottery’s lower price and subsidy matter more than per foot. The EMI check in the form on this page uses your numbers.

Two things differ most: you can’t choose, and you can’t sell for five years

What	CIDCO lottery flat	Private flat
Picking your flat	15 choices over three rounds, then “allot any” (CIDCO picks). No change after	You pick the tower, floor and facing
Keys	Dec 2027 to Aug 2028 for these three buildings	Jun 2027 to Jun 2028 for the three above
Selling	Not for 5 years from the agreement (EWS)	No scheme lock-in
Renting out	Not in the booklet we read. Ask CIDCO in writing	Your choice, within society rules
Pulling out	After allotment, you lose the booking amount and 10% of instalments paid	Set by the builder’s agreement

These rules come from CIDCO’s December 2025 booklet. Check the August 2026 one before you pay.

Neither road is faster. CIDCO gives keys only after the OC (the certificate that says a building is safe to live in), and pays no interest if that’s late. For a private flat, hold the builder to its date on MahaRERA (the state’s register of approved projects).

And the CIDCO flat is small. About 296 sq ft is tight with a child. If a second child is planned, look at a private 2 BHK.

Winning the draw isn’t the same as getting the keys

Families who won flats at Vijayadurga Vista, Taloja, in CIDCO’s October 2024 scheme paid about ₹33 lakh each.

Their buildings got the OC in November 2025. Yet on 12 October 2026, over 250 families were still waiting for keys, held up by the court’s pause. One buyer said they pay “both loan instalments and house rent”.

Prices move too: the state cut CIDCO’s prices by 10% in December 2025. A lottery flat has its own wait and risk, just a different one from a builder’s.

Most of the homes are in Taloja Sector 39: what we could confirm about daily life

How would each of you get to work? Navi Mumbai Metro Line 1 runs from CBD Belapur through Kharghar to Pendhar, near Taloja. We couldn’t find an official distance from Sector 39 to Pendhar.

CIDCO told Taloja to store water for a 36-hour shutdown that ran from 29 to 31 October 2026.

In August, a Taloja Sector 34 society said it needed 5.6 lakh litres a day. CIDCO promised it 3 lakh for now.

We couldn’t find dated sources on schools, markets or hospitals near Sector 39. So go twice: on a weekday at 9 am, and on a Saturday with your child. Ask a society about school buses and how often tankers come. CIDCO lists Raigad Estate Phase-I, in Taloja Sector 28, as finished with its OC. Visit it too.

Who should wait for the lottery, and who should look elsewhere

The simple rule: no draw is open today. When one opens, apply only if all three are true: your family earns ₹6 lakh a year or less, owns no pucca house, and can stay five years. Until then, put CIDCO’s first-come flats and private flats side by side, by the square foot.

“But isn’t a government flat safer than a builder’s?” It’s safer in one way: CIDCO won’t disappear. But the Taloja families above still wait. A private project you can check yourself: here’s how to check a MahaRERA registration.

CIDCO says it has authorised no agents to allot its homes. Anyone selling you one for a fee isn’t CIDCO.

So here’s tonight’s job. Add up both your incomes. Under the line, register for the next draw and still compare by the foot. Over it, let’s put private flats in Kharghar or Taloja beside CIDCO’s first-come list. The form on this page has your area advisor’s name.

Questions buyers ask

When is the next CIDCO lottery?

CIDCO hasn’t announced one. The latest draw ran on 11 September 2026. Watch cidcohomes.com.

Can I sell or rent out a CIDCO lottery flat?

Under the December 2025 booklet, an EWS flat can’t be sold for five years from the agreement. An LIG (lower income group) flat is barred for three. We found no rule on renting, so ask CIDCO in writing.

Can we apply to CIDCO and book a private flat too?

The EWS rule says your family owns no pucca house anywhere in India. Ask CIDCO how a booked, unfinished flat counts before you do both.

How we checked: CIDCO figures are from cidcohomes.com and its December 2025 booklet. Private prices and sizes are from our records and project pages. All were read on 31 October 2026. Per foot is the price divided by the legal carpet area.

Buying your first home here? Our six steps to buying a flat in Navi Mumbai put this in order, from the loan to the keys.