Ghodbunder Road, a neighborhood in Thane has emerged as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region’s (MMR) corridor for middle-income housing when most peripheral markets have outpaced wage growth and priced out first-time home buyers.
Despite property price escalation in the whole of MMR that too across the country, Ghodbunder Road maintains a unique market position as it continues to attract salaried, end-user buyers.
According to data from the Department of Registration and Stamps this location saw 28.1% Year on Year increase in residential sale agreements in FY 2024–25, with over 81% registered to non-investor individuals declaring self-use in affidavits filed under the Maharashtra Stamp Duty Act.
One of the major contributors for this is Puranik Builders which holds a large footprint along the corridor. As per MahaRERA filings, the group has delivered over 7.5 million sq. ft. of residential development on Ghodbunder Road since 2000, and houses over 9,000 families across completed phases of its projects.
It continues to own large parcel of contiguous developable land, primarily in the Kavesar–Gaimukh zone.
Puranik’s early entry into the market predates much of the infrastructure now defining the corridor. According to the company it maintained a product mix within the ₹55–90 lakh segment, avoiding large-scale luxury pivoting even post-RERA and post-COVID, when many competitors migrated to upscale housing.
“Ghodbunder Road was never just a real estate opportunity — it was a long-term urban responsibility,” said Shailesh Puranik, Managing Director, Puranik Builders. “We entered this corridor well before the infrastructure came. Back then, very few developers were thinking about the needs of Mumbai’s middle class,” he said.
“But we saw the trend — the gradual displacement of salaried families from core locations — and decided to stay focused on their aspirations. Today, it’s clear that patient, infrastructure-aligned housing is what the region truly needed, and continues to need,” he needed.
Ghodbunder Road is under evaluation as a pilot zone for Maharashtra’s upcoming “Middle-Income Growth Corridor” initiative — part of the Urban Housing 2040 policy.
The corridor has been shortlisted based on four parameters: land price-to-income ratio, end-user housing concentration, metro accessibility, and infrastructure density.
Published – July 21, 2025 10:22 pm IST
