Premium housing demand, workforce expansion and tourism are reshaping property markets across Gujarat’s established and emerging real estate destinations
Gujarat’s real estate market is showing continued housing demand, but the underlying picture is becoming increasingly differentiated across its major growth corridors. Ahmedabad is seeing sales alongside higher launches, while Gift City, Dwarka, Dholera and Surat are developing around employment, tourism, industrialisation and infrastructure.
Ahmedabad recorded 9,581 residential sales and 11,077 launches in H1 2026, with quarters-to-sell at 8.1, the highest among the eight markets tracked by Knight Frank India. At the same time, homes priced above Rs 1 crore accounted for 54 per cent of sales, indicating a shift towards higher-value housing even as developers face the need to align new supply with actual absorption.
Hardik Shah, Director, Shyam Group – Dholera SIR, said the market is seeing a concentration of supply in higher-value housing. "Ahmedabad has an oversupply of premium, luxury, and upscale inventory," he said, adding that the 8.1 quarters-to-sell position would require stronger sales or moderation in launches for absorption to improve.
The market response, therefore, is increasingly centred on supply calibration rather than simply increasing project volumes. Shah said, "new product launches are expected to slow down in the near term," as developers respond to the pace of demand and assess pricing and inventory levels more closely.
Can Gift City Convert Jobs Into Demand?
Gift City’s residential market is developing alongside a growing commercial and employment ecosystem. Its official data shows more than 1,000 operational entities and over 20,000 employment generated, while the government has highlighted the expansion of banking, capital markets, asset management, fintech and other financial-services activities.
Shekhar Patel, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ganesh Housing Corporation Ltd, said the nature of demand is also changing as employment expands. "Gift City is increasingly moving from an investment story to an occupier-led market, which is an important transition," he said, adding that NRI and HNI investors are contributing to premium residential demand alongside workforce-driven requirements.
This creates two distinct demand pools, with employment supporting occupancy while investment capital can influence premium housing demand. Patel said, “In the long term, prices will be supported by the depth of the influx of business, employment ecosystem, and quality of infrastructure.”
Can Dwarka Sustain Property Demand?
Dwarka’s property opportunity is closely linked to the scale and regularity of tourism activity. Gujarat’s tourism data recorded around 72.2 lakh visitors to Dwarka in FY23, while the Gujarat government’s tourism master plan recorded around 80.02 lakh visitors to the Dwarkadhish Temple in 2022-23. More recently, the district administration expected nearly seven lakh visitors during the five-day Janmashtami period in 2026.
Virender Kumar, VP - Marketing, Arete Group, said the next stage of the market would depend on converting this visitor base into sustained economic activity. "Dwarka’s real-estate opportunity lies in converting pilgrimage footfall into a year-round tourism economy," he said, pointing to hospitality, serviced residences, second homes and retail as potential areas of demand.
For property values to remain linked to actual economic activity, Kumar said operating performance would need to complement tourism numbers. "The sustainability of valuations will ultimately depend on occupancy, length of stay, rental liquidity, room yields and recurring consumption, not simply visitor numbers or infrastructure announcements," he said.
Are Emerging Corridors Getting Ahead?
Gujarat’s newer corridors are developing from different economic bases. Dholera is being positioned around industrial and manufacturing activity, while Surat continues to have a large urban and business ecosystem. The real estate opportunity in these locations therefore depends on whether infrastructure and employment growth translate into sustained end-user demand.
Shah pointed to the need for infrastructure and genuine end-use demand to develop alongside property activity in emerging locations. "In the emerging corridors such as Dholera and Surat, speculative plotting and lack of infrastructure could affect future demand," he said, highlighting the importance of development being supported by actual economic activity.
Virender Kumar also pointed to the relationship between infrastructure investment and land values as these corridors mature. "Where infrastructure gets capitalised into land prices ahead of economic activity, valuations can detach from fundamentals," he said, adding that employment, connectivity and recurring economic activity would remain important anchors for development.
What Will Define Gujarat’s Next Phase?
Gujarat’s real estate market is increasingly becoming corridor-led rather than uniform across the state. Ahmedabad has an established residential base, Gift City is developing around financial services, Dwarka around tourism, and Dholera and Surat around industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure-linked activity.
Patel said the differing stages of these markets need to be recognised while assessing future real estate growth. "Gujarat should be viewed less as a single real estate market and more as a collection of emerging economic corridors, each at a different stage of maturity," he said.
The market’s next phase will consequently depend on whether housing supply follows employment, infrastructure and household formation in each corridor. Patel said, "The key challenge is ensuring that real estate development follows economic activity," with affordability, land costs, mobility and planned supply forming part of that alignment.
Mohd Naushad
BW Reporters The author is a Trainee Content Writer at BW Businessworld. He is an English Journalism graduate from IIMC, New Delhi.