Worli is new millionaires’ backyard

With Worli witnessing real estate purchases by celebrities, cricketers and business tycoons, it is turning into Mumbai’s new playground for millionaires. The city has for long been home to India’s who’s who with traditional posh areas like Napeansea Road, Malabar Hill, Walkeshwar, Colaba and Cuffe Parade dominating the addresses for old money. However, the same is now being taken over by Worli and the region is signalling its arrival as a prime residential destination, claims a report released by JLL, a real estate consultancy firm.

In the past three years, cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Bollywood actors like Abhishek Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, and various business tycoons have invested in a residential apartment or shifted to Worli.

Mr Kohli recently bought a luxury sea-view apartment measuring around 7,000 sq ft for Rs 34 crore, which brings the per sq ft rate to around Rs 48,000-50,000.

“A few big-ticket transactions are indicative of the social status of buyers and the budgets they are allocating towards making investment or even end-use purchases in Worli. The release of mill lands and redevelopment opportunities, including Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects, have been two major fillips for Worli,” said Ashutosh Limaye, National Director — Research, JLL India.

Easy accessibility to the central and secondary business districts like Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) has helped the commercial and retail development in and around it, apart from very good social infrastructure connectivity.

This precinct has created an independent identity rivalling the traditionally popular prime south-Mumbai residential clusters. Another factor that has helped Worli in a big way is the comparatively increased supply of housing units when compared to the traditional areas of SoBo. In SoBo, due to lack of land parcel, new projects are possible only via redevelopment, and even that option is limited, the report adds.