By Rajan Narayan

GOA has become the preferred investment destination not only for non-resident Goans but for all non-resident Indians. This was confirmed at the meeting of the Maharashtra chapter of the National Real Estate Development Council which was held in Goa on February 16, 2025. Non-resident Indians particularly from the UK the US and other developed countries feel more at home in westernised Cosmopolitan Goa. Not only does Goa offer a lifestyle comparable to that of London or California, but investment in a second home in Goa is much cheaper for them than in the metro cities of polluted India.
The booming real estate market in Goa is driven by luxury housing, particularly high net-worth villas and gated colonies. In the recent past the focus has shifted from the over-crowded Dona Paula to Vagator, Morjim and Mandrem beach side among other preferred destinations in Goa. Besides beachfront properties, green Goan Catholic-dominated villages are also in great demand. Goan villages are uniquely developed courtesy its colonial 450 years of Portuguese colonial rule.
With even popular villages like Siolim, Saligao, Majorda and Benaulim down south Goa now over-crowded with real estate, the new focus now is on re-development of existing real estate parcels. There are a number of areas both in the cities (so called cities) where there are buildings more than 50 years old and either run-down dilapidated and in need of salvation. This is particularly true of urban areas like Panaji, Mapusa, Vasco and Margao and Ponda.
Panaji was the pioneer with the redevelopment of the sprawling Adarsh Colony in Miramar. The 50 years old plus Adarsh Colony which had only two storied buildings now has eight storied buildings. The original tenants have been accommodated with the additional floor space index being used to build an ultra-luxury high-rise structure.
Now even low-lying Campal and Lake View colonies with stand-alone villas are sought to be redeveloped into high-rise buildings. The huge increase in land values have made this profitable both for those who have land to sell off villas and real estate developers. Both the Kamat Royale and the Milroc complexes near Miramar beachside are examples of re-development. Similarly, several properties in Margao, Mapusa and Vasco have also been redeveloped.
Over the years many slums have come up to accommodate the growing number of migrant labour. The earliest slums to come up were the Zuarinagar (Fukat Nagar) in Vasco and Chimbel near Ribandar. The Baina red light district at Vasco da Gama port city was demolished during the tenure of late chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, in the interest of the real estate lobby. There are several other slums like those at Moti Dongor which is in the heart of Margao city and it is prime real estate waiting to be redeveloped. In capital city Panaji the Gaudi village of Aivao village, sited just below the Raj Bhavan hillock cliff sides is reported to have been sold by Agarwal Minerals Goa in Margao to a builder from outside the state.
The big landlords of Ribandar, including the Panvelkar family, have reportedly sold large amounts of land to the DLF group for luxury villas around the Reis Magos Fort. Not only in Vasco port city but even at Mayem in Bicholim taluka re-development is becoming a focal point for big builders from outside the state.
The scale of investment for super luxury villas and housing is too big for the traditional Goan builders. The Kamats and Milrocs and their counterpart CD Developers in south Goa do not have the resources to invest in multi-crore real estate projects to get an idea of the size of an investment involved; imagine complexes that are five times bigger than the Ocean Park project of eminent builder Joe Mathai. Large super luxury building projects require huge amounts of finances. There is a time gap between promoting a new project and realizing the proceeds of sale of this property. Even in real estate projects by top builders, only a small proportion of the money is paid in advance. The instalment links are with the progress of the project.
You cannot sell a ten-storied apartment when construction has not even started. It is only big builders from Bombay and Delhi who have the capital to invest in megaprojects. The biggest cost in all this real estate development is first acquiring vacant plots of land. This is particularly true in Goa where there are dozens of tenants or mundkar in every large property. The real estate developers have to compensate the tenant/mundkar before he can proceed to build on the land. It’s a fact that builders are now using bulldozers to get rid of mundkar.
The stakes are huge as dramatized by the Reis Magos and the Bicholim projects. In Reis Magos the 50 luxury villas are being marketed at an average of Rs40 crore each, which is expected to generate revenue of Rs 2,000 crore.
This implies that the real estate developers will have to invest at least Rs500 crore to start a project. There are reports that the Lodha project in Bicholim is involved an investment of Rs5,000 crore. Even in the case of the Ocean Park project, Joe Mathai was forced to involve partners from Mumbai to complete the projects.
IT seems obvious that not only the real estate lobby in Goa but the State government is interested in persuading big builders in Maharashtra to invest in Goa. Since a lot of available land has been used up the new focus is on redevelopment of slums and old buildings. There are many old buildings in Taleigao, the suburb of Panaji, which are being redeveloped. A large chunk of real estate in Panaji which now houses the Gujarat Lodge is apparently set for redevelopment. The most coveted areas for redevelopment are the heritage districts of Campal and Fontainhas.
It is long being accepted that niz Goenkars cannot any longer afford to buy property in Goa. They can only exchange their ancestral homes by offering them for re-development. In the early 90s I bought a 500 meter flat in Taleigao for about Rs5 lakh. Its current value I understand is over Rs35 lakh or more even though it is in a now run down condition and 40 years old now.
The flats in the old and run down complex where I stay now at Caranzalen are now being sold at Rs70 lakh or so. Flats at Models Millennium, considered the earliest Models complexes, have risen from an average of Rs15 lakh in the 1990s to over Rs1 crore at present. These prices are out of reach of Goans because there are no earning opportunities in the state, unlike in Mumbai or abroad. So it becomes a game of real estate developers from outside building luxury villas and flats for NRI investors from all over the world.
Goa now is competing with Dubai for providing homes for the bold and the beautiful and the rich and powerful. Already Assagao has become Gurgaon and Dona Paula has become the Nariman Point of Goa.
The big real estate sharks from outside started descending on Goa only after 2000. The first outside developers were the Gera’s who focussed on the Patto business district. The Gera’s have now shifted to developing the Kadamba plateau which is now the counter magnet to Dona Paula.
However, in the last decade the top builders in the country started huge mega projects in Goa. The perception is that this mega projects have the encouragement and blessing of senior members of the BJP cabinet, particularly Town & Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane. It is not surprising that the DLF group which promoted Gurgaon have made huge investments in Goa. The latest to join the race are a branch of the Lodha group which specializes in super luxury accommodation for non-residents.
UNFORTUNATELY, none of the highly reputed builders like the Godrej group have shown any interest in Goa. The Godrej group, for long best known for locks and refrigerators, also has a major presence in construction activities the country over. They started with unlocking value in their own lands in Vikhroli and neighbouring areas in Mumbai. They have the reputation of being upfront and honest real estate promoters. Presumably they are reluctant to invest in Goa for fear of the huge kickbacks expected by politicians for facilitating permissions.
Regrettably except for the Dempos none of the big industrial group in Goa have gone into housing. The choice before Goans is very limited. Those who invested even in flats leave alone villas 30 or 50 years ago stand to benefit the most. They are the main targets of real estate houses keen on redeveloping old properties. It was Mumbai which took the lead in the re-developed of slums. The Adanis have begged the contract for redeveloping “largest slum in Asia” — Dharavi.
There is a lot of value locked in the sprawling slums of Goa which are a gold mine for real estate developers. The Tamdi Mati area of St Inez is an interesting example of the benefits of redevelopment. Goans have to be careful to ensure that they are not taken for a ride under the pretext of redevelopment. In any redevelopment project, the builder has to offer equivalent or larger space in the new building complex to be constructed. The norm is that between the demolition of the old and the construction of the new, the builder has to provide alternate premises. We hope the government will protect the rights of existing tenants of properties which are looking forward to redevelopment.