Kamal Ghorui
Lower office rentals are helping Navi Mumbai emerge as a preferred destination for multinational companies and global capability centres (GCCs), with rents in the city about 21% below the average of major Tier-I markets, according to a report by real estate data analytics firm CRE Matrix.The report, ‘Navi Mumbai Rising: A Comprehensive Perspective on India’s Next Commercial Real Estate Hub’, said the average office rent in Navi Mumbai is around Rs 70 per sq ft per month, significantly lower than the average rentals in leading metropolitan markets, according to PTI.As per the data, Navi Mumbai currently has about 32.7 million sq ft of prime office stock accommodating nearly 430 occupiers, of which 72% is green-certified.Another 23.5 million sq ft of office space is expected to be added by 2031, the report noted.“Navi Mumbai has evolved from a planned counter-magnet to Mumbai into a structurally significant commercial real estate market within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).“The city’s relevance today is driven by the convergence of infrastructure delivery, institutional-grade supply, occupier demand and sustained cost competitiveness,” CRE Matrix co-founder and CEO Abhishek Kiran Gupta said.The report also highlighted that average office demand in Navi Mumbai over the last two years has been around 3 million sq ft, significantly higher than the new supply of about 0.8 million sq ft.Key office micro-markets in Navi Mumbai North include Airoli, Ghansoli, Kopar Khairane, Mahape and Rabale, while Juinagar, Nerul, Seawoods, Vashi, Sanpada, Turbhe, CBD Belapur, Ulwe, Kharghar and Panvel are among the prominent commercial areas in the southern part of the city.Major developers with projects in the region include Tata Realty, Adani Realty, L&T Realty, K Raheja Corp, Mindspace Business Parks REIT and Aurum Ventures, among others.“Navi Mumbai’s ascent is numbers-driven, a 21 per cent office rental advantage attracting GCCs, 23.5 million sq ft of green building development, 628 MW live IT load across 7.5 msf of data centres, and a 3,400+ MW upcoming data-center pipeline-marking its transition into a core commercial and digital infrastructure hub,” Gupta said.He added that office rentals in Noida and Navi Mumbai are broadly comparable, while Kolkata and Ahmedabad remain cheaper office markets than Navi Mumbai.
