Thane: Mapping the Growth Tale

Thane city, an extended suburban area of Mumbai, has witnessed several changes in the recent years, both on the commercial as well as the residential front. Being one of the vital suburbs on the central side, the progress of Thane city can be credited to its growing residential, commercial, retail and infrastructure development.

It was supposed to be an alternative destination for those who could not afford to buy a house in Mumbai. However, it turned out to be not just an attractive desti-nation but also a case study in ur-ban destination development. The wheels of fortune have turned 360 degree and today, it stands among the top choice for home-buyers.

Physical and social infrastructure, appreciation potential, launch to sales ratio of the hous-ing projects, rental market or the overall liveability index, Thane scores much better than any oth-er sub-market that has emerged in any other part of the country. It is hence, no surprise that a ILL re-port credited Thane to be among top seven investment destina-tions in the country.

What makes the liveability index of Thane so high? What are the catalysts to the amazing growth story of Thane? To what extent it has grown by default and how far the built environ-ment has designed it to be a suc-cess story?

Brotin Banerjee, MD and CEO of Tata Housing says, liveability is judged by a mix of factors, includ-ing demographics, education, health and medical standards, safety, housing options, sociocul-tural factors, political and eco-nomic environment and natural-built/planned environment. According to him, on all scores, Thane has emerged as the fastest growing destination with infra-structure at par with international standards. The presence of an industrial belt in the vicinity is in turn driving the growth of the region and the demand for civic and residential infrastructure.

"Thane is well-connected through a network of highways and ensures greater connectivity to the suburbs. The region shows potential for tremendous growth, with several projects in the pipeline too. Thane enjoys a cen-tral location and good railway connectivity with other areas in the MMR as well. With the profu-sion in the number of retail and commercial spaces, Thane is steadily moving towards a self-sufficiency model, which makes it a place of choice for all buyer seg-ments. Moreover, the region of-fers quality housing options across the spectrum for an in-creasing urban population," adds Banerjee.

Shailesh Puranik, MD, Puranik Builders also believes, Thane has emerged as one of the fastest growing city in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in the re-cent past and possesses excellent infrastructure besides being cos-mopolitan in nature. Thane's greatest advantage is its geographical proximity to both Mumbai and Pune as well. Thane has also registered a robust infra-structural growth in recent years, with the state government giving a special thrust to development in this region.

"Development of infrastructure such as the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road and other such projects has reduced the travel time be-tween Thane-Mumbai and Thane and Navi Mumbai to 25 minutes from the earlier 40-45-minutes, making travel between the two cities very convenient. Infrastruc-ture development has thus played a major role in bringing Thane and its peripheral area into focus and making it an attractive desti-nation for home-buyers. Various flyovers on the busy roads have addressed the issues related to traffic congestion too, The up-coming metro is likely to make transportation a smooth ride for all as well," says Puranik. Dharmesh Jain, chairman and managing director, Nirmal Lifestyle has a different take when he says that Thane has established its distinct identity in terms of industrial growth and in-frastructural development over the years. Along with the devel-opment of other industries, the IT hardware industry has also shown considerable growth in the recent years. Also, Thane has seen a substantial growth in residential development compared to other suburbs in Mumbai over the years.

"The reason behind Thane's ro-bust growth is the government's proactive focus on development of infrastructure projects in this region. Overall, Thane has emerged as a new destination for real estate developers and home-buyers. Thane as an area has many options available and the fast growth in infrastructure and recently proposed extension of Mumbai metro from this area will make it an attractive region for investment," says Jain.

This raises a fundamental point as to whether Thane has reached its saturation point or not. Our experts feel it has not! Within the built environment of the property market in this part of the world, it is believed that various growth corridors of Thane are still very attractive for investments. More importantly, the boundaries of Thane are just expanding and some of the locations beyond Thane are very promising for the future growth.

Of course, one of the assets of Thane is the Ghodbunder Road. It has access to both, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai, and also to the extended western suburbs. So, from the perspective of property investment, Thane has developed into an ideal real estate destination for investment. More importantly, the liveability index of Thane is pretty high and that has 'been a major catalytic factor for its amazing growth story so far. Overall, the growth story of Thane is worth grabbing eyeballs.

To read more Mumbai and Thane Real Estate Resources, visit www.mchithane.org
 

Contact
501, 5th Floor, Plot No – A-123/4,
Odyssey IT Park, Road No. 9,Wagle Estate
Thane (W) – 400 604, Maharashtra, India
Mobile : (+91) 9833 4583 23 E-mail: mchithane@gmail.com