Navi Mumbai’s Real Estate Market Opportunities & Challenges

Builders Brainstorm On Navi Mumbai’s 
Real Estate Market 
Opportunities And Challenges..!

At an industry event organized by the Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM) and CREDAI with knowledge partners JLL India, Navi Mumbai’s real estate fraternity came together on May 16 to discuss the current status of their industry and how they can resolve issues with different stakeholders as also address their challenges with the strategic insights and consultation of Builders Association of Navi Mumbai’s (BANM) knowledge partner JLL India.

A high-level panel discussion moderated by Joy Sanyal, National Director, JLL India was hosted at the event, and featured leading industry names such as Devang Trivedi, president – BANM,  Mahesh Mudda – general secretary of Builders Association of India and CEO, NCCCL, Subrata Bandyopadhyay, CEO – L&T Seawoods Pvt. Ltd,  Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO, residential services, JLL India, Ramesh Nair, COO – Operations & International Director, JLL India, V Suresh, Director – Hiranandani Projects, Sanjay Kumath, Senior VP, Corporate Strategy, Housing.com, Tapas Das, Head – Property and Administrative Services – L’Oreal India.

Devang Trivedi, president of BANM, started off by highlighting how developers had promised capital gains to investors and cannot bring down prices even in the current market scenario. He further noted that most developers in the city lacked an analytical approach to their work and that high-risk decisions were being taken on gut feelings alone.

He lamented the herd mentality that exists in the developer community of Navi Mumbai, and exhorted the fraternity to prepare for new challenges and changed realities based on the insights and analyses being provided by international property consultant like JLL.

During his in-depth presentation, Ashutosh Limaye, National Head of Research and Real Estate Intelligence Services (REIS) at JLL India emphasized that Navi Mumbai could attract foreign investors by positioning itself as an infrastructure-surplus city with the added advantages of being an educational hub, and its close proximity to Mumbai.

Mr. Limaye pointed out that Whitefield in Bangalore and Hinjewadi in Pune have been successful in creating IT hubs by attracting a large number of businesses and employment-driven inward migration, and that Navi Mumbai – with its superb infrastructure – can succeed in doing so as well. He cautioned, however, that property ticket sizes and product offerings in Navi Mumbai are not properly aligned to consumer needs, and that this is one of the reasons why the city is unable to tap its full potential.

Despite the immense promise that the Navi Mumbai real estate market holds, there have been miscalculations and missed opportunities. For instance, many developers have focused on the residential category, but only those who relied on sound market research have been rewarded with success.

In terms of commercial office spaces, there is no lack in demand in Navi Mumbai – only a lack in supply of Grade-A product offerings. The region has seen a 52% appreciation in office rentals since the previous low seen in 2Q of 2009. In the past, there has been a healthy take-up for Grade-A office spaces.

Ramesh Nair, COO – Operations & International Director, JLL India said, “As of now, no corporate is ready to get into commercial property in Navi Mumbai. For this to change, the city should be branded well and pressure should be put on the government to create jobs and office parks. A professional approach, branding with an investor-focus and strategic alliances along with corporate governance should be top priority.”.

Office leasing to the IT sector in Navi Mumbai is around 40% of the total demand for leasing. Foreign companies look for green, contemporary and energy-efficient buildings, and the region’s commercial developers could focus on catering to such demand. In the commercial space, Thane and eastern suburbs have been the push factors for Navi Mumbai, but what the satellite city misses is its own pull factor. The demand for residential property also depends on Mumbai. The need to create a positive brand and not depend on push factors alone was emphasized.


Ashwinder Raj Singh, CEO, residential services, JLL India said,  “Navi Mumbai’s developer have a great opportunity to unleash this region’s larger potential. One of the key areas that Navi Mumbai should focus on is to bring out its competitive advantage across all the major cities in India and abroad. There needs to be a concerted push to bring more leading Indian and global corporates to this beautiful and well-planned geography. Navi Mumbai’s developers should get together and build a professional body with a CEO, and lay down a marketing plan to build its image even further. Gurgaon has done this extremely well in the last three decades.”

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