By Shveta Jain indiatimes.com
Andheri is the busiest and most populous suburb of Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with a healthy mix of both residential and commercial belts.
Population of Andheri is over 1 million. The World Bank has many plans for the development of this industrial area.
After the Mumbai metro line between Versova (Andheri West) and Ghatkopar (West) becomes operational, travel time will be reduced from the present 2 hours to about 20-30 minutes. The line’s trial run is expected to be held sometime in May 2013. This infrastructure development will boost realty prices in both the eastern and the western parts of this suburb substantially.
Andheri West has been a predominantly residential area where significant development has happened and is considered to be an up-market belt. The residential rates here vary from around Rs 14,000 per sq ft to Rs 50,000 per sq ft (psf) depending on the location. The most prominent areas of Andheri West are Lokhandwala, Oshiwara, Versova, DN Nagar, Amboli etc.
Andheri East has been traditionally an industrial belt with spurts of residential development happening at a few locations like Marol, Poonam Nagar, Sher-e-Punjab, J.B. Nagar, Sakinaka, Chandivli etc. These belts have witnessed residential property prices hovering anywhere between Rs 8,000 – Rs 15,000 psf depending on the location and quality of the property/project.
Prices have already gone up by a significant 20-30 percent over the 2008-09 levels due to the metro construction and also a lack in quality supply. 2013 will be a busy year for Andheri East as a lot of infrastructure improvement will take place.