Over the last decade, Navi Mumbai has evolved into one of the major real estate hotspots in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Thanks to continually improving infrastructure, realistic property prices, and ample property options in affordable segment.
“Navi Mumbai’s real estate market is on a major upswing with the proposed development of the international airport, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and other major infrastructure initiatives,” said Ashok Chhajer, Chairman and Managing Director, Arihant Superstructures Ltd.
In an exclusive interview, he spoke about the current real estate market of Navi Mumbai, upcoming infrastructure projects, and much more.
Here are the excerpts.
How has infrastructure catapulted the growth of Navi Mumbai?
A well-planned city, Navi Mumbai came into the limelight only after the announcement of the Maharashtra IT/ITes policy. Incentives and subsidies for companies attracted investors to Navi Mumbai, and it grew into one of India’s India’s first planned cities.
Today, the city has 14 well-planned nodes with water supply backed by 450 MLD capacity, separate electrical circle facilitating 200MW of power, a network of major and minor bridges, flyovers, road-over bridges and a couple of foot-over bridges, strung along with railway network from CST to Panvel and Thane to Panvel.
Interestingly, despite massive development, the micro-market still boasts about 45% land reserved for green zones.
Besides physical infrastructure, Navi Mumbai also has a robust social infrastructure with several reputed schools, hospitals, banks, hotels, and entertainment centres.
Navi Mumbai is on the cusp of development owing to several large-scale infrastructure projects. These include the Navi Mumbai International Airport, Trans Harbour Link Road, and the Navi Mumbai Metro Rail. Once these projects are operational, property prices here are expected to shoot further up.
What are the upcoming infrastructure projects in Navi Mumbai that are likely to impact the real estate market?
Navi Mumbai was termed as the second most liveable city in India as per the “Ease of Living Index” by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry. To further enhance the liveability quotient of the micro-market, several infrastructure projects have been announced by the state government. These include:
- Metro line (Phase I and II) between Belapur to Khandeshwar
- Planned Hyperloop connecting Mumbai-Navi Mumbai-Pune Suburban rail establishing inter-nodal transits between Nerul with Uran
- Coastal road planned between JNPT (Belpada) and Panvel creek at Aamra Marg
- Navi Mumbai International Airport planned to be set up by 2020
- Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL): Connecting Sewri to Nhava Sheva to improve connectivity between South Mumbai and Navi Mumbai
Property values in Navi Mumbai have increased significantly over the last few years. What are your views on that?
Over the last two years, capital values here have recorded a rise of about 8-12%. Currently, the average prices are in the range of Rs 4,500-10,000 per sq. ft. When compared to micro-markets in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai is quite affordable. In fact, the majority of the supply here falls in the affordable and mid-segment categories.
Kharghar, Ulwe, Kamothe, Panvel, and Airoli are some of the popular markets in Navi Mumbai.
