City's new walk-to-work destination: Goregaon

Goregaon, located on the western lines of the Mumbai suburbs, is one of the oldest and most popular residential areas in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). A vibrant residential hub, Goregaon lies between Bandra and Borivali and has earned its tag as a premium residential hotspot due to its proximity to the entertainment industry in Bandra and Juhu. 

In a city where connectivity is everything, Goregaon is a sweet spot.  The area is an attractive residential hub for high networth individuals (HNIs) and investors due to its proximity to the airport, the commercial hubs of Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) and Andheri, the Western Express Highway, NESCO, Nirlon Knowledge Park and Mindspace as well as the proposed ODC (Oshiwara District Center).

Apart from its thriving commercial office real estate market, the fact that Goregaon is such a uniquely-positioned hub for working professionals also favours its residential property market. Moreover, Goregaon has emerged as one of the front-running property hotspots to advance the vital walk-to-work (w2w) concept. 

With several office projects already in place and more continually mushrooming in and around the locality, senior corporate professionals can now benefit from the w2w advantage here. In fact, MMRDA intends to transform the ODC into another BKC, furthering Goregaon’s attractiveness as a walk-to-work micro market.  

Goregaon saw the launch of nearly 8,000 housing units over the past five years. Of this, 70 per cent were added during the period 2013-14. The area also saw spillover demand from nearby expensive destinations such as Bandra-Andheri and Powai.  Of the overall supply, more than 55 per cent has already been absorbed. 

While the area has a high demand for affordable housing (homes priced between Rs 4 million - Rs 8 million ), nearly 90 per cent of the new launches in the past three years fall in the price bracket of either Rs 8 million or Rs 15 million or above. Despite overall low sentiments in real estate in 2016, Goregaon saw a decent supply of new units owing to its excellent connectivity to key workplaces, including BKC.  

Currently, nearly 28 per cent (around 3,000) units are ready for possession in Goregaon. It indicates that the micro market has a good execution track record – an encouraging sign for prospective homebuyers looking to move in quickly and avoid execution delays.

The average housing price in Goregaon as of fourth quarter (Q4) 2017 stood at around Rs 16,600 a sq ft - the highest in the past two years - with an annual growth of around 3-4 per cent from Q4 2016 to Q4 2017. Decent demand by prospective buyers gives builders sufficient incentive to infuse new right-priced supply into this micro market. 

The writer is Head – Research, ANAROCK Property Consultants