Kharadi: An Accelerating Momentum at Pune

Tushad Dubash May 11, 2018

With declaration of National Mission for Urban Housing and its Housing for All by 2022, there was a surge in developers going in for construction of budget homes. The steepest decline in the launch of new inventory has come in from budget homes. Incidentally, from about a year ago, the number of new budget homes being introduced into the market has almost halved. The trend that has been witnessed is the same in Value as well as Premium segment albeit not with the same severity.

Pune has witnessed quite a few township developments in the west at Hinjewadi but not that many in the East. Kharadi is situated along the banks of the scenic Mula-Mutha River and is at a stone’s throw (7 km) from the Pune airport. Kharadi is being touted as being the new IT hub of Pune, and is rated as one of the best upcoming micro-markets in Pune primarily because of its infrastructural development and the development of large commercial spaces and IT hubs. Home to some of the most renowned names in commercial & IT space, like Zensar Technologies, World Trade Centre, EON IT Park, Kharadi IT Park, Magarpatta Cyber city and Cerebrum IT Park, Kharadi also houses the esteemed EON Free Zone, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which includes the EON Knowledge Park. Some of the other corporates that have an established presence here are Barclays Technology Center, Credit Suisse Services, Citicorp Services, Sungard, Mphasis, Zensar Technologies, Tata Communications, Reliance, Wipro and Polaris.

Well-connected to Pune city, Kharadi has become the preferred choice for home buyers and has revolutionized the ‘Walk to Work’ concept. These have in turn spawned the development of residential, medical and hospital sectors. Ease of commute, the understanding that they are going to be spending a significant part of their work life here and the fact that they can afford to own a home here makes most of the professionals working in these commercial projects invest in a residence. What follows is a domino effect; residences necessitating retail outlets, academic institutions, entertainment and even hospitals.

The Real Estate sector, having been plagued by quite a few challenges that have adversely affected buying sentiment in the market place, has seen a corresponding effect on sales in last 18 months as well. Given the rapid pace of expansion of entrepreneurial companies, Kharadi is quickly becoming the nerve center of the DNA that established Entrepreneurial Set-Ups. The demand for this 1 BHK has heightened even further given the location and absolute distance to the multitude of Work Spaces that have sprung up in this micro-geography.

Kharadi is one of the most upbeat micro-markets in Pune today. And this is being reflected in the knowing that while there is a drop in the aggregate number of units launched, the Premium and Premium plus segments have witnessed a growth in the number of new units launched.