DISTANT SUBURBS - Introducing SHAHPUR :The Times of India

With property prices increasing in Lonavala and Alibaug, Shahpur, on the outskirts of Mumbai, is now seeing a surge in demand for land

Once every month, Bharati Shi tole, her husband and their six-year-old son, travel from their 1-BHK flat in Mulund to their newly constructed bungalow in Shahpur, a little off the road to Nasik. “There is none of this running around involved in Shahpur,“ says the Mulund-based software professional.“Spending a day or two there is like getting recharged. It prepares you for the routine in the city.“

Shitole is not the only Mumbaikar who, tired of living cooped up in match-box apartments, has invested in a holiday home in small towns nearby. The result Shahpur, along with Kasara, Vashind and other sleepy hamlets along the MumbaiNashik highway, has seen a surge in demand for land. Over the last few months, several such projects have been launched in these areas. Joy Sanyal, national director Strategic Development Initiatives, JLL India, says, “As a trend, more and more developers are being inclined towards sizable, but not too large, affordable housing projects.This is creating the right kind of supply in the periurban locations (outskirts) such as Shahpur.“ The quaint Shahpur, Kasara and Murbad area on the Nashik-Mumbai highway, are the new second homes and even for some professionals working in Thane the first home destinations. With affordable prices, the buyer's interest is increasing with each passing day.

According to Mukund Sheth, director, Man as Projects, “With real estate prices in the megapolis shooting up, buying a spacious home is a distant ambition for most. These weekend home projects, launched recently, promise affordable plots and bungalows giving the middle class a chance to realise the dream of owning not just a big house, but land too.“ The recent declaration of the locality as a tourist spot, has given an impetus to the local economy. This development has also gone down well with the investors. Roads are already well-developed in the locality. For instance, a roughly 2,000 sq ft plot of land in Shahpur, about 90 kms from Mumbai, is priced at just Rs 7 lakhs. The cost of constructing a bungalow here works out to Rs 19 lakhs. Several such projects have been launched in the last year, and the plots here and in neighbouring towns are selling steadily.

Shailesh Puranik, managing director, Puranik Builders Pvt Ltd, says, “The clean air, greenery and adequate availability of water and affordable prices, are some key reasons that these areas have emerged as the preferred choice of the home buyers for the second home.“ “There are families that live on rent in Mumbai and invest in land on the outskirts; also, couples who pay EMIs on their house in Mumbai and still want to invest in a second home,“ concludes, Santosh Naik, MD and CEO, Disha Direct.