Professionals Prefer Goregaon To Ensure Work-Life Balance
After having enjoyed a work-life balance in a city like Noida, Saurabh Mazumdar, an architect, was conscious of the reality that the same luxury of the walk-to-work would not be possible in a city like Mumbai. He nevertheless was exploring a location for his design consultancy office. However, he was pleasantly surprised that the same luxury was possible in Mumbai as well. He could initially not believe that Goregaon has as much scope for the residential space as the commercial space.
The professionals who understand the property market dynamics of Mumbai echo the sentiments of this new buyer at Goregaon. The reason being that unlike South Bombay this market is quite reasonably priced and yet there are many employment opportunities in the area.
“The best part is that it is quite affordable from the standpoint of Mumbai real estate. One can avail both residential as well as commercial spaces at more or less the same price of around 16,000 per sq ft on an average. This price point is more or less the same that I have seen in areas like Gurgaon. Frankly speaking, I was not even expecting this kind of an affordable location in Mumbai that could serve both the residential as well as commercial purpose,” says Mazumdar.
More importantly, this is probably the only commercial-cum-residential locality of Mumbai where the capital values of residential and commercial properties are in balance. Like most of the locations of Mumbai, Goregaon is divided into Goregaon East and Goregaon West. The residential property price of Goregaon East is range bound between Rs 12,500-19,500 per sq ft.
The capital values are approximately 10 per cent less in Goregaon West. Even in the wake of an overall slowdown in the property market the average appreciation in this market in the last few quarters has been consistent at 1 per cent. The average rental value in this market is Rs 38 per sq ft. The capital values of the commercial property are between Rs 11,500- 17,000 per sq ft.
Rachit Shukla, a local property agent maintains that the pace of commercialization in the last few years has made Goregaon a sought after location when compared to localities in South Bombay today. According to him, what has elevated the positioning of Goregaon is the fact that along with the economic growth, there has been tremendous infrastructure development.
“Be it transportation facilities, including buses, taxis, auto rickshaws and trains or the social infrastructure that the professionals look for, Goregaon caters to quality conscious citizens. Today, this location has some of the major company offices, such as IBM India, Abbott India and Aegon Religare Life Insurance. Goregaon is also well connected to other parts of Mumbai and there are a number of hotels, schools, banks and hospitals. There is excellent network of railways and roadways and the suburb is a major source of employment,” says Shukla.
Parvati Goenka, a property consultant feels the appreciation potential of the market will be in double digit once the sentiments revive further. According to her, the kind of work-life balance that this market offers at such a reasonable rate can be found in no other location at the same price.
“I will call this market premium to luxury and whatever affordable options are available are in so much short supply that the appreciation potential is huge. Even in the wake of overall slowdown and price correction, this market has been witness to decent appreciation in the last couple of years. Of course, the pace of appreciation has not been as much as the potential of the locality," says Goenka.
Goregaon has excellent connectivity and social infrastructure and these are the major reasons for its rapid growth. The government has already made plans for upgrading the physical infrastructure of the area and the development of new link roads promise to add to its attraction quotient. The location also has the vantage point of connectivity with Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) and the Western Express Highway.
Goregaon is gradually scaling up as a luxury destination at the price of premium locality. Most of the new offerings are in the 2BHK segment and the analysts tracking the local property market are apprehensive that due to the short supply of smaller units the prices may hit the roof pretty soon.
The new emergence of Goregaon as a luxury destination has, however, not lost its classical charm with many big film studios like Film City, Filmistan, etc in the neighbourhood. This region has a lot of flora and fauna and forms the boundary of Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Once Mumbai Metro network covers the area, the attraction of the locality will further improve with connectivity to nearby localities include Aarey Milk Colony, Andheri, Malad Creek, BMC Road, etc.
The social infrastructure of Goregaon is relatively the best in the region with various schools, major hospitals, recreational amenities and proximity to various banks and ATMs. There are many shopping centres in the locality and, as a matter of fact, Goregaon is often referred to as the market of malls.
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The writer is CEO, Track2Realty. Views expressed are personal.