Prashant Thakur
By Prashant Thakur, Head – Research, ANAROCK Property Consultants
Once a small village located on the eastern periphery of Pune and defined by industrial developments, Wagholi has now transformed into a sought-after residential destination. The housing boom in Wagholi kicked off primarily on account of vast availability of land parcels at affordable prices, low registration costs and easy legal procedures, as it falls under a Gram Panchayat area. Wagholi and its nearby areas have also witnessed a rapid growth of IT parks and other commercial centres.
Over a decade ago, Wagholi was seen as little more than an extension of the city. However, it has interesting historical antecedents – Wagholi was the centre of the ruling chiefs of Chhatrapati Shivaji, and its very ancient Wagheshar (lord of tigers) temple is a popular tourist attraction.
Located on the Pune-Nagar highway, Wagholi has been under transformation since 2007. The region began developing primarily due to the saturation of core areas in Pune. In addition, the advent of the IT-ITeS industry in the eastern parts of the city drove up real estate activity here. The major growth drivers that contributed to the development of Wagholi include the presence of affordable projects, proximity to the IT hub of Kharadi, and excellent connectivity to Pune Airport as well as other parts of the city.
Once bereft of organized real estate developments and support infrastructure, it is now well-supplied with good social and civic amenities and a booming real estate market. Wagholi is a prime example of successful residential-cum-commercial destination in Pune.
It is well-connected by various modes of transport:
Nagar Road: Stretching from Bund Garden to Wagholi, the six-laned 15 km-long Nagar Road provides easy access to various prominent IT-driven areas such as Viman Nagar, Kalyani Nagar and Kharadi. Nagar Road further connects to Kharadi Bypass Road and Pune-Solapur Highway.
Rail: The closest railway station to Wagholi is Pune, which is at a distance of 14 km.
Air: It has direct connectivity to Pune Airport, located 11 km away, via the Lohegaon-Wagholi road.
The supply of new residential launches in Wagholi was around 22,000 units between 2013 and Q3 2017. More than 80% of the units were launched during the period 2013-15, after which launches declined significantly. More than 5,000 units priced less than INR 40 lakh were launched between 2015 and Q3 2017; as a result, the micro market is well known for its affordable housing developments.
Due to the slowdown on account of DeMo, RERA and GST, overall real estate activity has dimmed in the past two years and as a result, around 7,900 units are yet to be sold. Approximately half of the inventory is expected to be ready for possession within less than one year, and an additional 35% are ready-to-move-in. With the availability of a large number of ready-to-move-in and nearly complete housing projects, buyers and investors looking at Wagholi are surely spoilt for choice.
The average residential real estate prices in Wagholi appreciated by around 5% during the last three years, rising from INR 4,000/sf in Q1 2015 to INR 4,300/sf in Q4 2016. As the recent structural reforms and policy changes severely impacted the real estate sector, average prices declined to INR 4,200/sf in Q3 2017.
The future of Wagholi is certainly promising, given the large-scale real estate and infrastructural developments happening here. The proposed Ring Road project (connecting Pune and PCMC areas) falls in this region and will be a major growth driver for housing demand. Ongoing and upcoming infrastructure developments acting as pull factors for Wagholi include:
The Mumbai-Bengaluru Infrastructure Corridor
The road connecting Wagholi to Eon IT Park through Nagar Road A flyover connecting Wagholi to Shikrapur.
In addition, this micro-market is likely to be included in the Pune Municipal Corporation limits in the next few months, so Wagholi’s real estate market is all set to grow even more rapidly going forward.