By Arosh John, Founder, John Real Estate (MahaRERA Reg. No. A51700001835) | Editor-in-Chief, Thane Real Estate News (TREN)
Thane–MMR | January 2026
Commercial property in Thane is often marketed like a headline: “high ROI,” “prime location,” “pre-leased tenant,” “assured rent.” Professional underwriting works differently. It treats commercial as a disciplined equation: rent quality + lease structure + re-letting demand, and only then the purchase price.
This guide decodes pricing and ROI across Thane’s three core commercial buckets—offices, shops (high-street retail), and warehousing/industrial—and shows how serious investors should evaluate location-wise opportunity without falling for brochure math.
1) The ROI math that must be clean before you negotiate
Commercial returns are best understood through yield.
Gross Yield (%) = (Monthly Rent × 12) ÷ Purchase Price × 100
Net Yield (%) = (Annual Rent − operating costs − vacancy loss) ÷ Purchase Price × 100
Four rules prevent most mistakes:
- Match the same area basis. If rent is quoted on carpet, compare value on carpet-equivalent.
- Do not ignore vacancy gaps. One long downtime can wipe out years of expected yield.
- Separate asking rent from achieved rent. Asking numbers are signals, not guarantees.
- Lease terms are value. Lock-in, escalation, deposit, exit rights, and restore clauses matter.
2) Maharashtra’s pricing baseline: eASR / Annual Statement of Rates (Ready Reckoner)
Before debating market price, establish the state’s official valuation reference. In Maharashtra, the eASR (Annual Statement of Rates / Ready Reckoner) under the Department of Registration & Stamps (IGR) is a publicly available, locality-wise baseline used for valuation and stamp-duty assessment.
Use eASR correctly:
- As a sanity check for location and property-type valuation references
- To estimate duty/registration-linked valuation assumptions early
- Not as “the market rate” (commercial market value is rent- and lease-driven)
Segment A: Office Space ROI in Thane (Thane vs Thane–Belapur Road)
Thane’s office ecosystem is not one market. In practice it splits into:
- Thane (Kapurbawdi, Ghodbunder Road, Wagle Estate belt)
- Thane–Belapur Road (Airoli–Ghansoli–Mahape belt)
Office rent benchmarks (Grade A context)
Industry office-market benchmarks indicate stock-weighted average asking rents around:
- Thane: ₹82.5 per sq ft per month
- Thane–Belapur Road: ₹70.3 per sq ft per month
Important context: These are typically for bare-shell / warm-shell office units (as applicable by building and quoting practice)—not fully furnished and not premium fit-out. Fully furnished, premium fit-out offices can command materially higher rents, while older strata stock may achieve lower rents depending on quality and demand.
A simple valuation lens using cap-rate logic
Many professional investors use an underwriting lens of ~8.0% to 8.5% as a reference range for stabilized office yields. This is not a guarantee of any deal’s outcome; it is a practical way to test whether the price is rent-defensible.
Thane example (₹82.5/sq ft/month)
- Annual rent = 82.5 × 12 = ₹990/sq ft/year
- Value at 8.5% yield ≈ ₹11,650/sq ft
- Value at 8.0% yield ≈ ₹12,375/sq ft
Thane–Belapur Road example (₹70.3/sq ft/month)
- Annual rent = 70.3 × 12 = ₹843.6/sq ft/year
- Value at 8.5% yield ≈ ₹9,925/sq ft
- Value at 8.0% yield ≈ ₹10,545/sq ft
How to read this properly:
If an office unit is priced far above what its rent can justify at your target yield, you are paying upfront for future rent growth. That can be rational only when building quality, tenant depth, and re-letting speed clearly support it.
Office ROI is decided by five drivers
- Lease strength: lock-in, escalation, exit rights, deposit, enforceability
- Tenant quality: ability to hold rent and re-let quickly
- Building fundamentals: parking ratio, power backup, lift capacity, lobby experience
- Vacancy risk: downtime and leasing friction
- Strata vs institutional-grade: resale liquidity and buyer pool differ sharply
Segment B: Shops / High-Street Retail ROI in Thane
Retail returns look attractive on paper because rents can be high. Retail ROI becomes durable only when the shop can consistently support that rent.
Thane prime high-street rent benchmark (asking rent)
Industry retail benchmarks for prime high-street locations indicate Thane asking rents around:
- ₹300 per sq ft per month
Important context: This is generally a bare-shell / warm-shell shop assumption (as applicable to the building and quoting practice)—not fully fitted. Fully fitted premium retail (with strong frontage, signage advantage, and high footfall capture) can command higher rents. Conversely, poor frontage, awkward layout, or weak access can reduce achievable rents even on a known street.
In retail, two shops on the same road can produce two different ROIs
Because retail is driven by operational reality:
- Frontage and visibility: easy to notice, easy to enter
- Footfall logic: reasons to stop, not only pass through
- Parking and access: convenience wins
- Tenant category: essential services and QSR behave differently from discretionary categories
- Lease discipline: clear escalation ladders and meaningful lock-ins reduce volatility
- Re-letting speed: downtime is the real enemy of retail ROI
Retail underwriting rule:
Do not overpay for a rent number you cannot defend for multiple years across multiple tenant scenarios.
Segment C: Warehousing / Industrial ROI (Bhiwandi vs Thane–Belapur Road)
Warehousing behaves like logistics, not like residential. The market rewards truckability, node connectivity, compliance, and operational efficiency.
Warehousing rent benchmarks (MMR logistics context)
Industry logistics benchmarks indicate:
- Bhiwandi: around ₹22 per sq ft per month
- Thane–Belapur Road: around ₹65 per sq ft per month
Important context: These are typically standard compliant facilities—not specialized built-to-suit setups. Rents move materially with specifications such as clear height, docking, floor strength, yard depth, compliance readiness, power availability, and whether the facility is built-to-suit.
Why the gap exists:
- Thane–Belapur Road includes more premium inventory and different demand drivers
- Bhiwandi remains the high-volume logistics workhorse where scale and node logic dominate
Bhiwandi is not one market; it is many micro-markets
Bhiwandi rents vary meaningfully by pockets and approach roads, because the outcome depends on:
- access and congestion points
- compliance readiness
- turning radius and docking
- flooding history and last-mile road quality
Warehousing ROI is decided by six operational truths
- Compliance readiness: fire, approvals, documentation hygiene
- Specification: clear height, dock design, floor load capacity, turning radius
- Power reliability: and clarity on who bears costs
- Monsoon risk: flooding history and drainage outcomes
- Connectivity: time to demand basins (Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Pune)
- Tenant profile: 3PL, FMCG, e-commerce have different lease behaviors
3) A disciplined workflow to evaluate any Thane commercial deal
- Check eASR for the locality and property type to frame valuation and duty-linked assumptions.
- Anchor rent using credible benchmarks and on-ground leasing reality.
- Compute gross yield, then move to net yield with conservative assumptions for:
- vacancy gaps
- brokerage and lease-up costs
- recurring operating costs and taxes
- Stress-test:
- 3–6 months vacancy scenario
- 0% rent growth scenario
- tenant exit at lock-in end
- Validate legal and usage risk:
- permitted use and compliance
- society/building rules (where applicable)
- clean title chain and enforceable lease documentation
4) The most common ROI mistakes in Thane commercial property
- Buying on one area basis and renting on another
- Ignoring downtime and tenant churn
- Paying a premium for weak tenant quality
- Assuming escalation is guaranteed
- Forgetting exit liquidity and buyer pool depth
Closing Note
Thane’s commercial market can be rewarding, but it is unforgiving to lazy underwriting. In commercial, the market pays you for stability, not for excitement.
Buy rent you can defend, on lease terms you can enforce, in a pocket where re-letting demand is real.
Also READ: Why Buying a Home Beats Renting (If Your Finances Allow): Myths, Math & Reality
Also READ: Mumbai Rental Scam Alert: The ₹1.34 Lakh Mistake Tenants Must Avoid Before Paying Any “Token”
About the Author
Arosh John is a Thane-focused real estate expert and the Founder of John Real Estate (MahaRERA Reg. No. A51700001835), with over a decade of on-ground experience advising homebuyers, investors, and NRIs across Thane and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region. He is widely trusted for premium resale transactions, luxury villa advisory, and NRI investment strategy—covering acquisition, negotiation, documentation diligence, and exit planning.
As Editor-in-Chief of Thane Real Estate News (TREN), Arosh publishes factual, insight-led market coverage focused on infrastructure execution, policy impact, micro-market liquidity, and real-world deal economics—helping readers make decisions based on fundamentals rather than noise.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational and informational purposes. Commercial rents, vacancy cycles, and transaction values vary by asset grade, building specifications, unit placement, permissions, tenant profile, and negotiated lease terms. Readers should conduct unit-specific legal, technical, and leasing due diligence before taking any decision.
