Mumbai suburbs targeted for growth

After years of steady increases, analysts expect Mumbai residential prices to fall as much 20 to 30 per cent in the next two years, due to the abundance of new projects available.

But the suburbs of Mumbai may still be primed for growth, a new report from Jones Lang LaSalle suggests. Bandra East, Kurla and Andheri are among the neighbourhoods likely to see price increases and attract investor activity, says Sanjay Dutt, chief executive of Jones Lang LaSalle in India.

The key driver for the residential market will the demand for office space, Mr Dutt wrote.

"Bandra and Kurla have seen over three million square feet of office space absorption over the last one year," he wrote. "The immediate future supply of an additional four million square feet of Grade A office space is likely to fuel the appetite for residential properties even further."

Residential tower projects in northern suburbs have seen prices increase 10 per cent in the last four months, he said.

"Looking at the trends in the suburbs, it would seem that this is a time of transition from a buyer's to a seller's market," Mr Dutt reports.