City homes becoming dearer; commercial property lags

Residential property prices in Mumbai have registered growth, though at different rates in various part of the city as prices for commercial space continues to lag behind, and in some cases have shown a negative trend.

According to the ready reckoner issued by the state government for stamp duty purposes, residential property prices in the posh Colaba area continue to grow and have registered a dramatic rise of almost 50 per cent over the last year figure of Rs 1,05,000 per sq mt. But commercial property prices have remained unchanged at Rs 1,60,000 per sq mt.

The Netaji Subhash Road (Marine Drive), arguably the most sought after residential destination in the city, has seen property prices declining. While the residential property prices have declined from Rs 1,40,000 per sq mt to Rs 1,33,000, the prices for commercial space have declined by almost Rs 9,000 per sq mt from last year's figure of Rs 2,34,000.

Malabar Hill continues to attract the highest property rates in the city but property prices in this area have remained stagnant. Both the residential and commercial property prices on the Peddar and Huges Road have shown no increase at Rs 1,85,000 and Rs 2,57,000.

Worli Sea Face, another preferred address for high and mighty of the city, has shown a marginal increase of five per cent over last year's rates of Rs 96,000 per sq mt. But again the commercial property prices in the area have declined from Rs 1,06,000 last year to Rs 1,05,000.

Property prices have not shown any substantial change in South Central Mumbai where a lot of land is becoming available for development due to the auction of mill lands, redevelopment of old chawls etc.

In the area between the Ambedkar Road and Elphinstone Road, the state government has estimated that residential property rates would go up marginally from the present Rs 55,500 per sq mt to Rs 55,900, but commercial space did not see any change as far as prices are concerned. It has retained a price tag of Rs 1,03,000 as earlier.

Bandra is considered to be the queen of suburbs and is home for a lot of Bollywood biggies. The residential property prices in the area have increased by 10 per cent from last year's Rs 82,000 per sq mt, but the commercial property prices have declined marginally.

The western suburb of Vile Parle is home for a lot of middle class and upper middle class Maharashtrians and Gujaratis. They have migrated here in the last few years from their traditional South or Central Mumbai localities such as Girgaon or Dadar.

The area has shown a healthy growth in property prices. While the residential property prices in Vile Parle (West) on the S V Road have gone up by almost 20 per cent, commercial realty prices have registered a growth of 6 per cent only.

Mulund, a suburb on the Central railway line, has seen many malls and multiplexes sprung up in the last couple of years. The area did not register any growth in commercial property prices.

The commercial property prices have remained static at Rs 54,000 per sq mt in Mulund East, while the residential property prices registered a modest gain at Rs 26,900 per sq mt compared with Rs 24,500 last year.