Builders home in on Mumbai city periphery

Exorbitant land prices and red tape have forced developers to shift their focus out of the city limits. Many prominent developers, including Mittal Developers, Tata Housing, Lodha Developers, Kalpataru, Pearl Developers, IndiaBulls, DB Realty and Hiranandani, are building townships at Vasind, Owa, Ulwe and Boisar in Thane and Raigad districts.

“There is hardly any vacant land available in the city. Even if land is available, the rates are so high that developers cannot undertake housing projects because the common man would not be able to afford the flats,” said Sunil Mantri, managing director of the Mantri Group.

Moreover, developers face a lot of hurdles for approvals.
But, in Thane and Raigad districts, land is cheap and there is less red tape. “We are able to construct affordable houses for the masses there. We construct smaller buildings so that we can complete them within a year or so,” Mantri added.

Pranay Vakil, chairman at Knight Frank India, reiterated that non-availability of land is pushing developers outside the city limits. “As per the city’s topography, its development can be extended up to Thane, Kalyan and Navi Mumbai in the central suburbs and beyond Dahisar and Boisar in the western suburbs.

There is also the restriction of floor space index and stringent rules that are discouraging developers,” Vakil added. Thanks to the Navi Mumbai International Airport project and now developers shifting out of the city limits.

Places such as Taloja, Owa, Ulwe, Vasind and Boisar are now in demand. Nitin Patel of Thalia Investment said: “A year ago, the real estate prices at these locations were between Rs1,500 and Rs2,000 per sqft. Now, it is between Rs3,500 and Rs 4,000 persqft.”