Why Mohali has outpaced Chandigarh
Chandigarh is a finished city with very little land left to build on. Mohali, just across the boundary in Punjab, is where the tricity is still growing. The Aerocity and IT City belts, and the airport road running past them, have given developers large parcels to plan townships and towers on, and buyers something Chandigarh cannot offer: new homes in volume.
The numbers show the result. On our data, Mohali has risen about 74% in five years while Chandigarh managed roughly 49%. Mohali is also the more affordable of the two — ₹6,900 per sq ft against ₹12,000 — which means a buyer with ₹1 crore gets around 1,449 sq ft here versus roughly 833 sq ft inside the Union Territory. Nationally, Mohali’s growth sits ahead of Pune’s 71% and just behind Bengaluru’s 84%, which is unusual for a city of its size.
The catch is income. A 3.0% gross yield means ₹1 crore of property earns about ₹3 lakh a year before costs. Mohali is a place to build capital, not to live off rent.
Buying in Mohali from abroad: an NRI checklist
Much of Mohali’s overseas demand comes from Punjabi families settled in Canada, the UK, Australia, the US and elsewhere, buying a home to return to, to house parents, or simply to keep a foothold. Buying from ten thousand kilometres away changes the risks. Nobody is walking past the site each week, and a sales team that is responsive before the booking can go quiet after it.
- Look up the project on the Punjab RERA portal yourself and read its quarterly progress reports. Do not rely on photos the sales team sends.
- Choose a construction-linked payment plan so your money leaves in step with physical progress, not in a lump up front.
- If you give a power of attorney to a relative or agent, limit it to specific acts and a specific property. A broad general power is a common source of trouble.
- Ask someone you trust — or an independent adviser — to visit at each major payment stage and photograph the actual structure.
- Keep all payments through your NRE or NRO account and banking channels so the paper trail supports you later, including at the time of sale.
- Before booking, visit, or have someone visit, a finished project by the same developer and speak to residents about delivery and maintenance.
Mohali builders: who we trust, and who needs extra checks
The tricity has fewer large, listed developers than NCR or Mumbai, so many buyers end up choosing between local firms with limited public disclosure. Here is how our desk reads the names active in and around Mohali.
| Developer | Desk rating | Mohali link in our data | Our stance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero Realty | 3.8 | Hero Homes Mohali | Industrial-group backing and a financial score of 4.4; a safer mid-premium pick |
| JLPL (Janta Land) | 3.5 | Mohali-based; Falcon View, Sky Garden, IT City plots | Strong land positions in Mohali sectors; competent vertical product |
| Homeland Group | 3.3 | Mohali-based; Homeland Heights, Homeland City | Steady local option in the Sector 70 belt; normal diligence |
| Gillco Group | 3.3 | Mohali-based; Kharar–Mohali corridor | Value corridor builder; inspect at possession |
| ATS Infrastructure | 3.0 | Casa Espana Mohali (group SPV) | The SPV has faced an NCLT insolvency admission; extreme caution on under-construction units |
| Omaxe | 2.9 | Omaxe New Chandigarh | Punjab RERA delay-interest orders on record; completed, OC-received stock only |
The last two rows are the reason this section exists. Our Omaxe profile records a Punjab RERA order for about ₹34.8 lakh in delayed-possession interest on a flat in its New Chandigarh project, and another order rejecting COVID as an excuse for delay. Our ATS profile notes that the group company behind Casa Espana Mohali has faced insolvency admission. Neither fact means every project by these groups will fail. They do mean that a buyer who books early-stage inventory from them is taking on risk the brochure will not mention.
Aerocity, IT City and the airport belt
Our desk does not yet publish sector-level prices for Mohali, so we will not quote numbers for individual belts. The broad pattern is that the areas nearer the international airport and the planned IT City are where larger new developments cluster, while older, fully built Mohali sectors closer to Chandigarh trade more as resale. Newer belts give you modern layouts and payment plans, older ones give you finished roads, schools and neighbours. If you are buying to live in within two or three years, that finished infrastructure is worth more than it looks on a spreadsheet.
Plots or apartments in Mohali?
Punjab’s buyers have a long-standing preference for land, and Mohali still offers plotted options alongside group housing — JLPL’s IT City plots are one example in our records. A plot gives you control over what you build and avoids the risk of a tower that stalls halfway. It also gives you no rent until you build, and puts the burden of approvals, construction and quality on you. Apartments from a well-rated builder are simpler to hold from abroad and easier to let. For most NRI buyers who will not be on site, we lean towards completed or late-stage apartments; for families who plan to build and live, a clean, approved plot in an established layout can be the better long-term asset.
Where Mohali can disappoint
- Rental yield of about 3.0% is thin — an empty flat held from overseas simply costs you maintenance.
- Growth of 74% over five years will not necessarily repeat; some of it reflects catch-up from a low base against Chandigarh.
- Resale in newer belts competes with fresh launches, and heavy investor ownership in a building can leave it half occupied for years.
- Delay risk from weaker developers is well documented in the region’s RERA and tribunal records.
We would become more cautious if growth continued while occupancy in new towers stayed low — a sign of investor-driven pricing. We would be more constructive as the airport and IT City belts fill with residents and offices, turning them from launch corridors into neighbourhoods.