MUMBAI, Nov. 28 -- Nearly one in three homebuyers who won flats in the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority's (Mhada) Konkan Board 2025 housing lottery have chosen to surrender their allotments, internal data accessed by Hindustan Times shows. The Konkan Board had offered 5,285 flats and 77 plots across Thane, Palghar, Badlapur and Sindhudurg in its October lottery. Of these, 762 units belonged to the inclusive housing and scattered tenements categories, where winners are not required to indicate acceptance or refusal. The remaining 4,523 allottees had to take a call on whether to proceed. According to the internal document, 2,176 winners accepted their flats, while 1,374- nearly 30% - surrendered their allotment. Another 973 winners had not communicated their decision until Tuesday. Officials said the high refusal rate is notable, given the continued popularity of Mhada lotteries. This year's Konkan Board draw attracted approximately 1,16,000 applications. A senior official said applicants opt out for a range of reasons. "Some find the price unaffordable, some don't like the location or the specific flat offered, and some win more than one home in different categories," the official said. Under Mhada rules, a family can retain only one flat, even if it wins multiple tenements, forcing winners to choose and surrender the rest. Mhada has shifted its post-lottery documentation process online over the past five years. On the portal, selected applicants can either accept or decline their allotment before proceeding to the next steps such as issuance of the intimation letter, document verification, payment schedules and allotment letters. For the undecided 973 winners, the Konkan Board extended the deadline from October 28 to November 28, which lapses today....