By Girish Shah, Executive Director-Residential Sales, Knight Frank India
Over the last few years, Thane is seen gaining popularity for its quality residential developments on the back of its improving physical infrastructure and social amenities. Ghodbunder Road has developed as an arterial road connecting the Eastern and Western Express Highways. Residential properties in localities such as Naupada, Panchpakhadi, along the Eastern Express Highway (EEH) and Pokhran Road No.2 are sought after and command relatively higher prices than the rest of the market.
With several commercial hubs in Mumbai like Nariman Point, Lower Parel and BKC hitting their saturation points, Thane is being considered as a viable option as many IT /ITes companies who are opening up their offices there. This has persuaded working professionals too to consider this vicinity as a residential option.
The region is also becoming a location of choice for many first-time home buyers as the capital values are much lower than Mumbai, with apartments available in the range of Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 10,000 per sqft (Source: Knight Frank Research) in Ghodbunder and about Rs. 14,000 to Rs. 18,000 per sqft (Source: Knight Frank Research) in Naupada. The location has witnessed more than 9,800 unit launches in year 2018 across projects by noted real estate players like Kalpataru, Hiranandani and Wadhwa. Offering premium lifestyles, the new developments are equipped with social amenities such as club house, swimming pools, healthcare and recreation, all within reach.
Thane boosts of connectivity to Navi Mumbai, the Eastern and Western Suburbs of Mumbai via Ghodbunder Road, NH 8, Mumbai-Nashik Highway and Thane-Belapur Road. The future connectivity plans of Thane include the proposed Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali metro rail which is expected to reduce the travel time between Thane and Wadala by half. Other infrastructural developments on cards include construction of the Thane-Diva Road, the flyover at Bhiwandi bypass, metro-3 project to Kalyan and Mira-Bhayandar areas and parallel roads from Thane to Kalyan along the metro line. Different areas of Thane have seen a price correction of about 7% to 10% in the last one year, making the price point of home asset purchase lucrative for the home buyers.
Another major attraction in this area is an upcoming 20-acre Grand Central Park which is expected to be one of the largest in India. This could act as a major factor that could instigate appreciation of property prices especially in the region around it, a trend that has been observed worldwide. As per Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report – Insight Series 2019, homes adjacent to London’s Regent’s Park and New York’s Central Park both see an uplift of almost a third in the value compared with their neighbors. Central Park and Regent’s Park came out on top for the highest premiums, commanding 29% more for park-facing properties