Varun Arora, a 37-year-old investment professional, said he is looking to upgrade from his current rented apartment to the DLF development which he said he likes for its grand reception area, high-speed elevators and enough area to jog without having to leave the complex.
“Having a green, open, clean space with restricted access (to outsiders) is of supreme importance. You don’t want to run on the road. From a lifestyle standpoint that is paramount,” he said.
Supply of new luxury homes in India has been constrained in recent years, hit by an economic slowdown in 2019 and then the pandemic, which dampened sentiment in 2020 and forced developers to put brakes on new project launches.
Anarock data shows that luxury condominiums, defined as those selling above 15 million rupees (US$183,000), accounted for 17 per cent of all housing launches in 2022, touching an at least five-year high. And launches of once-popular affordable homes – those priced below 4 million rupees (around US$50,000) – halved to 20 per cent of the total in the period.
In all, a record 65,700 luxury units were sold in 2022, three times the previous year, with Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad leading sales. In 2019, before the pandemic, 18,150 units were sold.
In Mumbai, Sugee Developers last week published front-page advertisements offering sea-view residences starting at US$1.7 million in a development that will have an amphitheatre, landscape gardens and a sky deck lobby.
Godrej’s “Connaught One” project near central Delhi’s premier shopping district is offering apartments for US$2 million to US$3.3 million, on par with a good class bungalow in parts of the city.
“We are seeing more desire for larger spaces, lifestyle upgrade from founders of listed firms, startups, lawyers. We are getting more calls and as the available inventory is low, luxury properties are being sold quickly nowadays,” said Amit Goyal, India CEO at Sotheby’s International Realty.