Mumbai, May 9 -- With the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) recently completing seven years of establishment, the total number of housing projects registered hit the 50,000 mark. Maharashtra becomes the only state in India to cross the 50,000 registered residential projects mark. This accounts for over one-third or about 35% of the total housing projects in India. According to the statistics given by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, a total of 1,44,617 housing projects have been approved by all the RERA bodies in India. At present, a total of 50,162 housing projects are registered with the housing regulator in Maharashtra with Tamil Nadu at the second highest with 27,609 projects, followed by Gujarat with 15,322 projects. "Until a few years ago, the real estate sector, which was largely limited to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region or Pune, but now it is expanding. The consistent increase in the demand for houses across Maharashtra is an indicator of the state's social and economic development," said Manoj Saunik, chairman, MahaRERA. Of the total 50,162 projects in Maharashtra, 12,788 housing projects are in Pune district, 6,746 in Thane district, 5,907 in Mumbai suburbs and 5,360 in Raigad district....