Between 2010-11 and 2024-25, Mumbai house prices rose about 3.0 times. A starting government officer’s pay rose about 2.8 times.

Over the same years consumer prices rose about 2.3 times. The house price index is RBI’s, built from property registrations.

House prices against pay

Set house prices, pay and consumer prices to 100 in 2010-11. House prices were ahead of pay in every year after that. The gap was widest in 2014-15, with house prices at 188 and pay at 144. By 2024-25 house prices stood at 304, pay at 283 and consumer prices at 228.

The last year is provisional: RBI has not yet finalised its final quarter.

Since RBI changed the index

RBI has rebuilt the index on a 2022-23 base, covering 18 cities instead of 10. On that version, with 2022-23 at 100, Mumbai house prices stood at 106 in 2025-26, pay at 114 and consumer prices at 112.

Pay for 2025-26 is provisional: the 8th Pay Commission has not yet reported.

House prices in gold

Gold, priced in rupees, rose about 3.9 times between 2010-11 and 2024-25, more than the 3.0 times for Mumbai house prices. Measured in gold, house prices fell to 77, with 2010-11 at 100.

On the newer version of the index, gold stood at 225 in 2025-26 against 106 for Mumbai house prices, so in gold they fell to 47, with 2022-23 at 100.

This is gold’s price in rupees in Mumbai, so it also moves with the rupee. Gold is a different asset from a home: the comparison shows how the two prices moved against each other, not which was the better buy.

What this can and cannot tell you

The house price index says how prices moved, not what a flat costs. It has no rupee amount, so it cannot tell you how many square feet a month’s pay buys. It is one Mumbai-wide figure, not a neighbourhood or a size of home.

RBI has published the index in three versions, each covering a different set of cities and with no published way to join them. We show each on its own. Where the 2010-11 and 2022-23 versions overlap they move together, but a single quarter can differ by several per cent, so the two charts are not one line.

This is what a starting central government officer earns, not what a career pays. Housing allowances, which vary by city, are left out. For the same pay against prices in general, see government pay after inflation.

How this is worked out

The mean of the four quarters of each fiscal year. A year with fewer than four quarters published is left out. A year is marked provisional if any of its quarters is.

Pay and consumer prices are the fiscal-year series from the other stories, set to 100 in the first year of each version so they can share an axis with it. RBI’s oldest version (2008-09 to 2012-13) overlaps the 2010-11 one. We hold it in our data but do not chart it.

Where the numbers come from

• House Price Index (quarterly, all bases: 2008-09=100, 2010-11=100, 2022-23=100), Database on Indian Economy

  • Downloaded from the source

  Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • RBI Bulletin, October 2014: House Price Index, 2010-11 to 2013-14 (method, base 2010-11)
  • RBI Bulletin, 11 October 2012: House Price Index, Table 1 (city-wise, base Q4:2008-09 = 100). Its Mumbai values for Q4 2008-09 to Q4 2011-12 match the 2008-09 base in the DBIE export.
  • RBI press release, 9 October 2025: All-India House Price Index from Q1:2022-23 (base 2022-23)
  • Excel export of the 'House Price Index' report on DBIE (Statistics > Real Sector > Prices & Wages), exported by hand because the portal's report addresses are session links. It holds one table per base and lists Q1 2026-27 as provisional. RBI says the index is compiled from transaction data received from state registration authorities.
  • RBI has published this index on three bases. Each covers a different set of cities (2008-09: nine, 2010-11: ten, 2022-23: eighteen) and RBI gives no linking factor between them, so we keep them as separate series.

• Central Group A entry-level pay and dearness allowance, 1986 onwards

  • Entered from documents

  Compiled from Government of India documents. Retrieved 29 September 2026.

  • 7thpaycommissionnews.in: DA Table: Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief history (4th CPC slab table, 5th, 6th and 7th CPC rates) (secondary)
  • Ministry of Finance, Gazette of India: Central Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 (deemed in force from 1 January 2006; First Schedule row 17: 8000-275-13500 to PB-3 15600-39100, grade pay 5400) (primary)
  • Sixth Central Pay Commission, Government of India: Report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, Chapter 4.1 Dearness Allowance, paras 4.1.4-4.1.5 (DA rates paid 1.1.96 to 1.7.05 incl. after the 2004 merger) and para on DA of 38% payable as on 1.1.1990 (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Revision of rates of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - effective from 01.07.2025 (O.M. No. 1/4(i)/2025-E.II(B), 6 October 2025) (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Revision of rates of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - effective from 01.01.2026 (O.M. No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B), 22 April 2026) (primary)
  • Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance: Merger of 50% of Dearness Allowance/Dearness Relief with basic pay/pension w.e.f. 1.4.2004 (O.M. F.No. 105/1/2004-IC, 1 March 2004) (primary)
  • Department of Personnel and Training: The Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 1954, as compiled by DoPT (Rule 3: Junior Scale Rs.8000-275-13500 w.e.f. 1.1.1996, substituted by DP&T Not. No.14021/2/97-AIS-II-A dated 17.10.1997; pre-1996 senior scales 3200-4700, 3950-5000 and 4800-5700 revised w.e.f. 1.1.1986) (primary)
  • Department of Personnel and Training: The Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 2016 (deemed in force from 1 January 2016; Junior Scale is Level 10; Appendix I pay matrix, Level 10 index 1 = 56100) (primary)
  • indianpaycalculator.in: DA Rate History 2016-2026: Every Revision Under the 7th CPC (secondary)
  • MCR HRD Institute of Telangana: Pay scales of the 4th to 7th CPC (table mapping 2200-75-2800-100-4000 to the 5th CPC Group A entry scale 8000-275-13500 and PB-3 GP 5400) (secondary)
  • Ministry of Finance: Resolution 50(1)/IC/97: Government decisions on the Fifth Central Pay Commission report (revised scales and DA effective 1-1-1996) (primary)
  • mohsineducational.blogspot.com: D.A Rates Table (4th, 5th, 6th and 7th CPC) (secondary)
  • Wikipedia: Dearness allowance (5th, 6th and 7th CPC rate tables, with the 2004 merger) (secondary)
  • Verification of the curated rows: 1 partial, 27 primary, 1 primary-inferred, 19 three-secondary, 38 two-secondary.
  • DA held back during the 2020-21 freeze is not counted: the rate actually paid (17%) is used.
  • 2025-26 is provisional: the 8th Pay Commission has not yet reported. Once it does, pay is expected to be revised retrospectively from 1 January 2026, which falls in this fiscal year.

• Linking factors between the bases of the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers

  • Entered from documents

  Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment. Retrieved 29 September 2026.

  • Economic Survey 2000-01, Statistical Appendix Table 5.3: All India Consumer Price Index Numbers, footnote * (1982 series introduced October 1988; conversion factor from the new to the old series 4.93 for the General index)
  • All India and Centre-wise Linking factors of Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers: base 2016=100 to 2001=100 (all-India 2.88) and 2001=100 to 1982=100 (all-India 4.63)
  • Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, Table 34: Consumer Price Index - Annual Average, notes 2 and 4 (linking factors 4.63 and 2.88)
  • The 2001-to-1982 and 2016-to-2001 factors are published by Labour Bureau and repeated in the RBI Handbook. The 1982-to-1960 factor (4.93) appears in one document, the Economic Survey 2000-01, and we found no second publisher for it.
  • The monthly index behind this series is stored as published, per base, in the four cpi-iw series.

• All India General Index: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, monthly, on bases 1960=100, 1982=100, 2001=100 and 2016=100

  • Downloaded from the source

  Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment. Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • Labour Bureau retail price collection
  • The page's CPI-IW rows stop at April 2023. Later months come from Labour Bureau press releases (curated) and RBI Handbook Table 163. The site's certificate chain is self-signed, so the page was saved by hand.

• Monthly press notes on the Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers, May 2023 to April 2024

  • Entered from documents

  Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment. Retrieved 29 September 2026.

  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), May 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), June 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), July 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), September 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), October 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), November 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), December 2023
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), January 2024
  • Press note: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), February, March and April 2024
  • Press Information Bureau release: Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (2016=100), August 2023 (4 Oct 2023)
  • Entered by hand from each press note. Each month's stated rise or fall reconciles with the month before it, and April 2024 agrees with the RBI Handbook.

• Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, Table 163: Consumer Price Index - Monthly

  • Downloaded from the source

  Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 29 September 2026. Source page.

  • Labour Bureau, CPI-IW (2016=100)
  • HTML view of the table, dated 31 Jul 2026 by RBI. Only the CPI-IW (2016=100) rows are used.

• Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, Table 35: Average Price of Gold and Silver in Domestic and Foreign Markets

  • Downloaded from the source
  • Third-party figures

  Reserve Bank of India. Retrieved 28 September 2026. Source page.

  • Bombay Bullion Association and Press Trust of India (to 1999-2000)
  • Business Standard/Business Line, Economic Times and the IBJA website (Mumbai, from 2000-01)
  • LBMA (London gold, from 2000-01)
  • Thomson Reuters (New York silver, from 2000-01)
  • RBI notes that data up to 1999-2000 and from 2000-01 onwards may not be strictly comparable because the sources differ.
  • In 4 fiscal years (1996-97, 1998-99, 2000-01, 2019-20) RBI's gold spread does not reconcile with its Mumbai and London figures, by up to ₹1.66 per 10 g (about 0.03% of the price). We cannot tell which published figure is wrong.