● Continued from page 1

With the upcoming festiveseason, there is a positive sen-timent among home-buyerslooking to make a purchaseon such auspicious occasions.The developers too are look-ing postively at this festiveseason. Home-buyers expecta price correction in this peri-od. The developers shouldtherefore, focus on selling theexisting inventory and oncethat is done, they can targetthe new launches in this fes-tive season.

“New launches encourageand motivate the buyers toexplore the areas, which theymight not have otherwise ex-plored. Apart from the priceof property that home-buyerslook at, developers presentlyare focused on standing outamongst the clutter. They doso by pooling their efforts inbetter quality of construction,contemporary design andproper planning of projects.The last six months have beengood for the industry andthere are quite a few newproject launches being an-nounced too,” says Shah.There are not many takers forthis new launch theory

though. Most of the develop-ers believe that it is time tore-asses their standing inven-tory, look at the fiscal man-agement of the company andfocus more on the sales chan-nel to beat the prolongedspell of slowdown in the city’shousing market. There can beno better time than the up-coming festive season as thisis the time when most of theprospective home-buyers areon the lookout for a betterdeal. Mumbai’s property mar-ket that has weathered thechallenges of the slowdownand resultant slow salesseems to have learnt its les-sons. Developers are hencegetting realistic and focusedon selling the inventory by of-fering incentives to the buy-ers. Will this realism changethe market dynamics and re-vive Mumbai’s property mar-ket?

Well, the developers seemto be playing their part quitesportingly. The home-buyersare also evaluating their costand benefit analysis of buyinga house in the festive seasonbut the real game changer liesin the court of the govern-ment – both Maharashtra andthe Centre. If only the inter-est rates are lowered now andsome policy SOPs are offered

to the sector on the eve ofthe festive season, there isno denying that Mum-bai’s property market

will bounce back to thefast forward lane.

CMYK

SHREEGANESHA

A REALTYUPSWING

2

SEPTEMBER 20, 2015

The walk-to-work concept is slowly gaining groundin Dronagiri and the current festive season could bean apt time to explore its residential prospects

DRONAGIRI,a walk-to-workdestination

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

● Ravi SinhaRefeedback@timesgroup.com

alk-to-work has al-ways been a wishful

thinking in the city ofMumbai and across the

Mumbai MetropolitanRegion (MMR). The developershave been struggling to offer proj-ects that could command a premi-um in the name of ‘close to theworkplace’ for the common man.However, Dronagiri has been fastemerging as a key location wherethe feasibility of walk-to-work isvery high. More importantly, it isnot one of those south Mumbai lo-cations that command a sky-highpremium; it is a market for afford-able home-buyers. The shifting ofkey businesses in this market alsosuggests that the employers havetaken note of the potential of Dron-agiri in the times to come. Thehome-buyers seem to be very bull-ish on this market, even though theappreciation has not been very highin this region. They believe that themoderate appreciation also reflectsthe reality that this market is not at-tracting the greedy investors; it is anend-user driven market. However,the potential of the region is so high

that none of the home-buyers inthis market are complaining. Thefirst-movers are rather endorsingthis market to be very realistic, rea-sonable and rational.

Ankit Kale is one such first-mover. He bought an apartment atRs 4000 per sq ft in 2012 and theprice of the said apartment today, isRs 4500 per sq ft. This may look likea bad investment, keeping in mindthe kind of phenomenal apprecia-tion that some other property mar-kets of the MMR have been witnessto. However, this software engineeris not worried; rather, he feels thatthis is the market where the eco-

nomic fundamentals are moresound. It is the market for afford-able home-buyers who are mostlythe working class. “It is all a ques-tion of how you look at the appreci-ation of the given property invest-ment. The gap between the devel-opers’ launch price and sales pricelater, during the constructionphase, cannot be the indicator ofthe real appreciation. It is mostlyartificial appreciation. For me, thesecondary market is the true indica-tor of appreciation and even today, Ican exit with my investment quiteeasily, unlike those markets wherethe notional appreciation is only on

paper but there is no buyer aroundat that price point,” says Kale.

Most of the brokers active in thearea vouch for the theory put forthby Kale. Girijesh Vashisht, a localbroker, maintains that 10-15 percent of the realistic appreciation isbetter than 30-40 per cent of artifi-cial appreciation on paper. Devel-oped by City and Industrial Devel-opment Corporation of Maharash-tra (CIDCO), Dronagiri in NaviMumbai, has proven itself as a high-ly potential investment destinationfor those who want to make walk-to-work a reality.

The Dronagiri Navi Mumbaizone is spread over an area of 1250hectares and is located at thesouthern tip of Navi Mumbai. Thezone is located to the east of Urantown and is bound by the KaranjaRiver on the south east. Residen-tial areas are located to the westand north west of the zone, whilethe Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT)area and township are located to-wards the north of the zone. Thezone is adjacent to the JNPT port,and is located farthest from theCentral Business Districts (CBDs)of Belapur, Nerul and Vashi. Due toits proximity to the port, this zoneis ideal for port-based industries.Needless to add, Dronagiri is a nat-ural home to businesses throughSpecial Economic Zones (SEZs). Interms of connectivity, the Bokadvi-ra Railway Station, which is beingconstructed near sector 47 and 48of Dronagiri, is supposed to jointhe Panvel-JNPT (JawaharlalNehru Port Trust) Line. Its devel-opment is believed to be giving thereal estate markets of nearby sec-tors such as 47, 48, 51, 52 and 53, anew high.

Analysts anticipate that in addi-tion to the railway network, theproposed Mumbai Trans HarbourLink Project will push the real es-tate market of Dronagiri since thelocality is situated towards the endof the upcoming Mumbai TransHarbour Link that connects Sewriin Mumbai to Nhava Sheva in NaviMumbai. This link, when complet-ed, will not only cut down the trav-el time between Mumbai and NaviMumbai, but will also boost real

estate prices here. Due to its portconnectivity, the SEZ stands as oneof the key economic drivers of theregion. The site has excellent con-nectivity by rail, road, air, and sea.It also skirts the boundary of Jawa-harlal Nehru Port. Analysts pointout that the long waterfront andwater bodies available to the sitewould be effectively utilised to de-velop world-class residential facili-ties within Navi Mumbai’s SEZ.The proposed industrial facilitiesin the node would cater to theport-based industries, includinglight engineering, apparel and lo-gistics and warehousing. This nodewould also comprise of multi-serv-ices sector, including IT/ITeS,commercial and trade facilities,thereby augmenting the develop-ment of this node as a self-con-tained integrated township. Thedesign of the node would bring toreality the walk-to-work philoso-phy, with residential facilities be-ing developed adjacent to the of-fice spaces. It seems Dronagiri isyet to see the first wave of sizeableappreciation and that makes it aneven more attractive destinationfor the home-buyers.

Ganesh Chaturthi isthe right time for

home-buyers toexplore the potentialof Navi Mumbai, as

the timing cannot bemore apt

● Vibha SinghRefeedback@timesgroup.com

oday’s buyers prefer to opt forluxurious and premium quali-

ty projects equipped with vari-ous amenities, the best quality

of infrastructure, architectureand a luxurious lifestyle. The

property consultants are of theopinion that the present home-buy-ers should look at the Ganesha festi-val as an opportunity and under-stand the potential of investment inNavi Mumbai area as it would growmanifold if a home-buyer enters themarket at this stage. Mona Jalota,vice-president-operations and strat-egy, Coldwell Banker India says, “Ar-eas such as the Palm Beach Roadconnecting Seawoods station, Vashi,Ulwe, Droanagiri, Kharghar, Panveland New Panvel, are being consid-ered as the next realty hotspot forinvestments.”

Besides, the city is being targetedby buyers as well on a continuousbasis since the area is increasinglyexpanding every day. The pace of de-velopment is such that after every

five years, one hears about new andself-sustaining towns in Navi Mum-bai, which were unheard of before.In this context, Navi Mumbai is tru-ly an investor’s paradise and givesdiverse opportunities for home-buyers. The rise in valuation ofproperties is sharp and the in-vestor/buyer need not wait for yearsto find appreciation for the proper-ties. Diipesh Bhagtani, executive di-rector of Jaycee Homes says, “As alot of places in Navi Mumbai havegotten saturated, the resident devel-opment has moved towards placeslike New Panvel, Pali Road, Kalam-boli and Uran and the residentialrates have seen a growth of around20 per cent in last five years. Ac-cording to me, all the above-men-tioned places will see a sharp riseand momentum in the next fewyears as many big infrastructureprojects are being planned and like-ly to come up in this region like theNavi Mumbai International Airport,metro, Mumbai Trans HarbourLink, etc. With all these componentsin store, the Navi Mumbai Regionwill see a tremendous change in the

connectivity between long distanceareas.”

However, there are some nodes,which are being targeted more bybuyers. Shveta Jain, managing direc-tor- residential, Cushman and Wake-field is of the view that, “Khargharwhich is one of the most well-planned nodes of Navi Mumbai, hasexcellent connectivity via the har-bour line of Mumbai’s suburban rail-way network, green surroundingsand a well-developed physical infra-structure like wide roads, skywalks,central park, golf course, etc. Hence,it is becoming the home- buyer’sfirst choice as these factors have ledto an increased real estate activity inrecent years.”

Further, ongoing initiatives suchas the under construction Phase 1 ofNavi Mumbai Metro Rail is furtherexpected to improve its connectivityto other locations in the city. Resi-dential projects in Kharghar arepriced between Rs 7,000-7,500 persq ft.

Manish Bathija, managing direc-tor of Paradise Group says, “ At pres-ent, the upcoming locations like

Panvel, Kharghar , Ulwe and Talojaare not only the prime destinationsfor investments but they will alsoexperience a boom in the near fu-ture with respect to the globallifestyle, better infrastructure, well-connected location, world-classamenities and an appreciating prop-

erty that the home- buyers can availto the fullest in the near future.”The other area, which is going towitness an increased residential ac-tivity is Ulwe because of its proximi-ty to the proposed Navi Mumbai In-ternational Airport, which will givea further impetus to the real estate

NAVI MUMBAI,

T

activity in the micro-market. Futuredevelopments such as the upcomingSeawood-Uran suburban rail net-work, which will connect prominentbusiness centres through a mass rap-id transport system to Ulwe, the pro-posed Sewri-Nhava Sheva Sea Linkthat will connect the main city toNavi Mumbai are expected to fur-ther boost real estate activity here.Projects in the location are pricedbetween Rs 4,600 - 5,500 per sq ft.

According to Rajesh Prajapati ,managing director, Prajapati Con-structions Ltd, “Several nodes inNavi Mumbai such as Vashi, Belapur,Nerul, Kharghar, Airoli and Panvelhave reached their saturation point.The recent infra developments haveresulted in the emergence of newplaces like Dronagiri and Ulwe,which are in the vicinity of these de-velopment zones, have seen an in-crease in realty prices in the recentpast.”

Airoli is a developing micro-mar-ket in Navi Mumbai. It lies on theThane-Turbhe-Vashi rail corridor;which connects Thane to Navi Mum-bai. It has good road connectivity tothe island city land via Airoli Bridge.The Thane-Belapur road connects itto both Thane and Vashi and theEastern Expressway is also in closeproximity. Considering the micro-markets’ emergence as an office huband its proximity to IT SEZ, MIDCTech Park, Dhirubhai AmbaniKnowledge City, iGate (Patni)Knowledge Park and the industrialbelt at Ghansoli, the location is ex-pected to witness strong demand forresidential units. Projects in the lo-cation are priced between Rs 8,000 -9,000 per sq ft.

ON A GROWTH PATH

W

Festive cheerfor real estate

IN TERMS OF CONNECTIVITY, THEBOKADVIRA RAILWAY STATION,WHICH IS BEING CONSTRUCTEDNEAR SECTORS 47 AND 48 OFDRONAGIRI IS SUPPOSED TO JOINTHE PANVEL-JNPT (JAWAHARLALNEHRU PORT TRUST) LINE. ITSDEVELOPMENT IS BELIEVED TO BEGIVING THE REAL ESTATEMARKETS OF NEARBY SECTORSSUCH AS 47, 48, 51, 52 AND 53 ANEW HIGH. ANALYSTS ANTICIPATETHAT IN ADDITION TO THERAILWAY NETWORK, THEPROPOSED MUMBAI TRANSHARBOUR LINK PROJECT WILLPUSH THE REAL ESTATE MARKETOF DRONAGIRI SINCE THELOCALITY IS SITUATED TOWARDSTHE END OF THE UPCOMINGMUMBAI TRANS HARBOUR LINKTHAT CONNECTS SEWRI INMUMBAI TO NHAVA SHEVA IN NAVIMUMBAI.

QUICK BYTE

IMA

GES

BAZA

AR

IMAGESBAZAAR

KK CHOUDHARY

IMAGESBAZAAR

*NBP1M200915/ /02/K/1*

*NBP1M200915/ /02/K/1*NBP1M200915/1R1/02/K/1

*NBP1M200915/ /02/Y/1*

*NBP1M200915/ /02/Y/1*NBP1M200915/1R1/02/Y/1

*NBP1M200915/ /02/M/1*

*NBP1M200915/ /02/M/1*NBP1M200915/1R1/02/M/1

*NBP1M200915/ /02/C/1*

*NBP1M200915/ /02/C/1*NBP1M200915/1R1/02/C/1