John

The retail property prices are expected to rise by 10-15% further by the end of 2007.

Residential, commercial as well as mall developers have started purchasing land at current market prices to keep up with the new retail prices in the country.

It has been reported by the Financialexpress that, mall developers Nirmal Lifestyle Ltd is buying 7 to 8 lakh sq ft of land in Andheri, Mumbai to set up its 'Lifestyle’ mall, whereas the Runwal Group, another builder, has recently bought 3 lakh sq ft of land in Andheri to develop its 'RMall', along with a multiplex theatre. K Raheja Universal is setting up 2 million sq ft of retail mall each in Vashi and a prominent location in the Mumbai suburbs. KSL Realty and Infrastructure Ltd is scouting for over 5 lakh sq ft of land each in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and the union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli in order to develop malls, theatres, warehouses and hotels.

Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director, Hiranandani Constructions said, “We will soon be acquiring land for developing malls in metros. Since the supply is a constraint in the high street zones in Mumbai, we will focus on areas close to Mulund, Thane and the suburbs in Mumbai.” Retail property prices in Colaba range anywhere between Rs 15,000 per sq ft to Rs 45,000 per sq ft, as compared to Rs 30,000 per sq ft to Rs 50,000 per sq ft in Bandra and from Rs 5,000 per sq ft to Rs 12,000 per sq ft in Andheri, Kandivali and Goregaon.
Shubhranshu Pani, president retail services, TrammellCrow Megharaj said, “There is a dearth in supply of land in high street locations of Mumbai such as Colaba and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). Hence, if real estate developers are acquiring land for developing retail properties in suburbs, they are moving in the right direction.”

So, we can well understand why the retail prices in Mumbai have already started increasing!!!