In Focus: Lower Parel And Its Prime Real Estate

For those looking for luxury real estate in Mumbai, options are unlimited. We are, after all, speaking of a real estate market that is counted among the most expensive in the world, and offers housing options no less than world class. However, if you are specifically looking to invest in a tony locality that is a grand mixture of residential and commercial setups, provides you a great connectivity and also has the potential to grow by leaps and bounds in future, one name that would immediately strike your thoughts would be Lower Parel. Once a predominant industrial setup, Lower Parel has come a long way now. This is the area that houses Mumbai's grandest business parks — Peninsula Business Park, Indiabulls Sky, World Crest, Urmi Estate and Marathon Futurex —, and the most prominent malls — the High Street Phoenix Mall and the Palladium. This is also the area where five-star hotels such as St Regis and Four Seasons are situated. Amid teeming official setups of information technology companies, luxury apartments have made way to provide homebuyers comfort and facilities of the highest order.

What makes Lower Parel so special?

Lying in the middle of Mumbai, this south locality is surrounded by localities such as Chembur, Bandra West, Khar West, Parel, Prabhadevi, and Santacruz West.  While Lower Parel is well connected with areas such as Mahalakshmi, Ghodapdeo, and Worli, old central business district of Mumbai Nariman Point also lies only about 10 kilometres from here.

The Mumbai Suburban Railway Network acts as a lifeline for this area. In fact, two of the railway stations, Parel and Lower Parel — are named after the locality. The Central Mumbai Railway Station is also at a distance of approximately 4.2 kilometres from here while the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is a drive of 21 minutes. While the Western Highway provides the area good road connectivity, the upcoming Mumbai Metro network will further boost Lower Parel's connectivity with other areas of the city.

What is available?

As far as projects go, there are 135 ready-to-move-in and 12 under-construction housing societies in Lower Parel. In terms of units, there are 283 residential apartments across this locality where you can pick units in 1BHK, 2BHK and 3BHK configurations. According to Makaan.com data, while there are 118 units of 3BHK configurations available for purchase, 89 units with sizes bigger than a 3BHK are up for grabs. On the other hand, 1BHK units available for purchase are only eight, while there are 68 2BHK units. Interestingly, 51 per cent homebuyers in the city prefer 1BHK units, says a report by Housing.com. Their preference has much to do with the property prices though. Considering Lower Parel is a locality primarily meant for those with deep pockets, the configurations dynamics is different.

A buyer has to pay between Rs 14 crore and Rs 17 crore for a 3BHK-plus unit size while 3BHK units could be bought anywhere between Rs 6-11 crore. For a 1BHK home at Lower Parel, a buyer has to pay as much as Rs 1.9 crore while for a 2BHK, rates may vary between Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 8.2 crore.

In case you plan to rent a house in this locality, you could pick from 159 properties at present and have to pay Rs 80 per sqft per month to do so.

What is the price?

While average property prices in Mumbai stand at Rs 11,624 square foot (sqft) , at Lower Parel the average cost is Rs 34,574 per sqft.  Similarly, while average monthly rents in Mumbai stand at Rs 47,700 a month, the average cost of renting at Lower Parel is Rs 1.83 lakh. Data by Makaan.com also show that from Rs 29,865 per sqft to Rs 31,690 per sqft, property prices in the locality saw an appreciation of over seven per cent between May and November of 2016.

What are the prime projects?

Renowned developers such as Ashford, Indiabulls, Lodha and Marathon have several projects in the area. While Kiara, The Park, World One, World Crest are some of the projects by Lodha Group, Sky and Sky Forest are projects by Indiabulls. Casa Garde is a project launched by Ashford.