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Navi Mumbai's real estate market-residential or commercial-never quite matched Mumbai's stature.

Now, the Navi Mumbai International Airport may change that. Large developers are acquiring land parcels in the city for residential projects. While the office market may take longer to grow, the area has already started emerging as a data centre hub. Mint explains what could change:

How can the airport impact Navi Mumbai's property market?

Conceived in the 1970s as a satellite city of the country's financial capital, Navi Mumbai has evolved into a thriving property market with planned infrastructure and affordable living options even as Mumbai continues to be India's most expensive real estate market.

Despite its proximity, Navi Mumbai has neither achieved the scale nor garnered the pricing and sales momentum that Mumbai's real estate enjoys. But its real estate market is back in the spotlight with the inauguration of the first phase of the Navi Mumbai airport in Ulwe, which is expected to act as a catalyst that can reshape property values across the region.

Will residential development take off?

Land is a telling indicator of any real estate market, and areas such as Ulwe, Panvel, Taloja, and Kharghar have seen land prices surge in recent years. Panvel's average plotted land rates rose by 93% between 2020-21 and 2024-25 to ₹80,000-85,000 per square yard, according to real estate advisory Square Yards.

In other parts of the city, plot prices stood higher at ₹1,10,000-1,30,000 per sq. yard, but grew by 58% over the same period.

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Growing land sales and prices may trigger residential momentum in the years to come. Many leading builders have acquired large land parcels in Navi Mumbai or have started developing township projects. Navi Mumbai has, so far, been a largely regional developer-dominated market. Even Bengaluru -based developers, such as the Prestige Group, are scouting for land in the region. The most prominent one will be the launch of Adani Realty's 1,000-acre township.

What is the status of Navi Mumbai Aerocity?

A proposed aerocity spanning 667 acres adjacent to the airport, featuring residential, commercial and office development, has been pegged to transform the real estate in the region. However, it is still a long way off.

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Maharashtra's urban planning and development agency, City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), has yet to finalize the master plan for the aerocity. With the airport's inauguration, the project is expected to gather pace. The land has been acquired, and a consultant will soon be appointed to prepare the master plan.

Can Navi Mumbai become a second Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC)?

Over three decades ago, CIDCO planned Belapur in Navi Mumbai to be a central business district, serving as an alternative to the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC ) in Mumbai. That didn't really turn out as planned. Since then, office parks such as Mindspace have emerged on the Thane-Belapur Road, but the region still lacks a large office hub status. For Navi Mumbai to develop fully as a property market, it needs to have a thriving office market that enables job creation, said Gulam Zia, senior executive director at property advisory Knight Frank India.

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Compared to Mumbai, Navi Mumbai has a small office market. However, the latter has a cost advantage and, along with infrastructure development, may see more companies leasing space as well as new office supply coming in.

What is the potential of the Navi Mumbai real estate market?

With the launch of the airport, the Panvel-Ulwe corridor is expected to grow significantly across multiple asset classes. Beyond residential and office, Navi Mumbai has already emerged as a significant data centre hub. Lumina CloudInfra, the data centre platform of Blackstone Group, has two sites in the city, with 180MW underway. Global asset manager CapitaLand Investment also launched its first data centre in Navi Mumbai in August, which is leased to a global hyperscaler.

Navi Mumbai has also been steadily developing as a prominent logistics and industrial real estate centre, and analysts believe that it will gain further pace now. International players, such as Ascendas Firstspace, already have logistics parks in Panvel, and more are likely to establish new facilities in the area.

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