Volney Founder Rohan Sheth Unveils Collective Investor Model for Mumbai CRE

The Mumbai commercial real estate (CRE) market has long been a paradox of high demand and high friction. While institutional investors and large-scale developers often navigate the landscape with ease, individual retail investors—those owning 1,000 to 2,000 square foot units—frequently find themselves sidelined. Rohan Sheth, founder of the real estate advisory firm Volney, recently highlighted this systemic inefficiency during a Brand Ki Baat podcast session. Sheth’s insights, rooted in fifteen years of industry experience, suggest that the traditional buy-and-wait strategy for individual office spaces is increasingly obsolete in a market that now prioritizes scale, service, and strategic tenant alignment.

The genesis of Volney’s current model stems from a personal pain point experienced by Sheth himself. Despite his deep industry connections, it took nearly eight months to lease out a 1,000-square-foot office space he owned at the Trade Center in Mumbai. This delay served as a wake-up call: if a seasoned professional faced such a prolonged vacancy, the average investor was likely suffering even greater losses. This realization shifted Sheth’s focus from traditional brokerage toward a more sophisticated investor network model. The core of this strategy is aggregation—moving away from isolated, small-scale offerings and toward a collective approach that presents a unified front to corporate tenants.

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Rohan Sheth, founder of the real estate advisory firm Volney, recently highlighted this systemic inefficiency during a Brand Ki Baat podcast session.

In the broader context of the Indian CRE market, this shift is significant. For decades, the market has been dominated by large global firms like JLL, CBRE, and Colliers, which primarily serve institutional clients and massive corporate occupiers. However, a massive portion of Mumbai’s commercial inventory is held by individual retail investors who lack the leverage to attract blue-chip tenants. Volney’s model attempts to professionalize this fragmented segment. By pooling multiple 1,000-square-foot units into a single, cohesive offering, the firm can approach larger corporations that would otherwise never consider a retail-owned property. This not only reduces vacancy periods but also enhances the overall valuation of the assets through better tenant profiles.