NEW BOMBAY & THANE

In January this year, a 1,824-sq-m plot in Navi Mumbai was sold for Rs 78 crore. At Rs 4.04 lakh per sq m, this deal shattered all records, including those set by its rich cousin Mumbai. Later this year, the 37-year-old town across the harbour, planned by architect Charles Correa, created yet another record. Siddi Home Makers, which opened booking for its new project Ellora Castle at a whopping Rs 5 crore apiece, announced that it will sell flats only through invitation because of high demand.

Realty prices in Navi Mumbai has galloped, ever since Cidco acquired a strip of marshy land lying between Thane and Raigad districts in Maharashtra. Real estate consultants prices are only to go up as mega projects like international airport and Reliance Industries’ SEZ take off. Leading real estate consultants Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj says Navi Mumbai is a potential high growth area. Growing economic activity due to such large projects "will generate a lot of appreciation of capital and rental in the medium to-long term," says its recent report.

Global real estate consultants DTZ says the satellite city's USPs are good HR catchment and easy availability of office space. It says office space rentals in Navi Mumbai have touched Rs 60 per sq ft per month. As compared to Mumbai, the city is well laid out with large tracts of open spaces and wide roads."You are closer to the city, but you are away from the chaos," says Reshma Kapadia, who recently shifted her investment consultancy firm from the Western suburb of Borivali to Belapur CBD. Ms Kapadia says her work-home relationship is much stronger ever since she moved in. "Besides, I get a lot of time for myself because I spend a lot less on travelling now."

This shift in preference is what lures big-ticket developers, who never had a prominent presence here, to New Bombay. The Rahejas have already arrived here; the Mumbai-based developers recently opened a mega mall cum multiplex complex, while a host of smaller players are getting ready to enter the market. "If anything was missing in New Bombay, it was the lack of good entertainment facilities. These malls will make up for that," says IT executive Ranjini Rangan.

The boom in the commercial sector has already started reflecting on the housing sector. The prices, which were in the Rs 15,00-2,000 per sq ft bracket, was almost doubled in most places. Apartments on the sea-facing palm beach road, has valued to Rs 6,000 and above. "Affordability is not an issue anymore, as long as you offer premium products," says Mr Dilip Jindal of Jindal Enterprises, who has developed a couple of big projects in this area.

Almost all realtors ET spoke to said that this region will survive the overall chill in the real estate market.

The other realty hot spot off Mumbai is Thane. According to international property consultants KnightFrank India, Thane has witnessed large scale residential developments over the last few years. The key reasons for the sudden shift are the availability of vast stretches of land due to closure/relocation of industries. There has been a steady growth of high rise and self sustaining townships in Thane helping it to emerge as a new residential location for the middle and upper middle income group. Current capital values for Grade A apartment range from Rs 3,500 -Rs 5,000 per sq ft.
“Thane will see an infusion of close to 7.7 million sq ft of Grade A residential space by 2009-2010, a senior analyst with KnightFrank India said. At present, the action in the residential space is concentrated on the Glady’s Alwares Road and Ghodbunder Road