With the announcement of the Dharavi Rehabilitation Project, speculation is again rife as to what turn property prices will take in real estate Mumbai market. Opinions are divided on the impact of the 535 acre project on the rest of Mumbai.

One view is that of stabilizing prices as 40 million sq. ft of space becomes available for commercial and residential development .

Real estate advisors in the city have noted the slide in prices in the Bandra Kurla Complex by 15-20% ever since the project was thrown open to real estate developers last month While real estate consultants Knight Frank expect a slide, others like Trammel Crow Meghraj predict a leveling of prices over the next year for residential properties in Mumbai.

Commercial properties, though, would follow a different curve, growing proportionately with the inflation curve at 5.06% Experts at Knight Frank believe that residential projects in Dharavi will fetch rates of Rs. 7000 per sq.ft once the project gets off the ground.

Rates hover around Rs. 4000 to Rs.7000 per sq. ft presently in the suburbs of Bandra and Sion flanking Dharavi. The commercial projects in Dharavi would restrain prices in the Bandra -Kurla Complex too, which have appreciated by 40% over the last one and a half years.

The Dharavi project would be complete by 2014, adding 25-35,000 residential apartments of every category over 20 million sq. ft.

This would partly meet the annual demand for 84,000 residential units in Mumbai. Supply runs short by 24,000 flats every year currently.

Beyond Dharavi, there are a number of old structures in south and central Mumbai which are also being brought down and restored. Mumbaikars are looking forward to the new-fangled look builders are promising, as over a third of the city is undergoing a revamping.

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