Luxury homes continue to dazzle on robust demand

Even in the midst of low sentiments haunting the real estate sector, there is one segment that is totally unfazed by it all. Luxury homes continue to dazzle in the face of robust demand and keen investor interest in the segment. Royal offerings doled out one after the other by real estate developers show that at least one buyer category has remained as loyal as before, the luxe home buyer.SundayET commissioned a survey to global real estate consultancy Cushman and Wakefield (C&W) to find out some top-of-the-line luxury offerings coming up in the five major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

And here's what we found. While the new luxury apartments in Delhi-NCR were valued at over Rs 10 crore, in Mumbai it easily crossed the 20 crore mark for a 4 BHK. It also found that among the new constructions around the National Capital Region (NCR), properties in Gurgaon commanded a premium, while sea-facing locations in the financial hub attracted the richie rich.Lavelle Road in Central Bangalore was much sought after as a luxury buy. And while Spanish villas in Hyderabad made an opulent statement, it were the spacious independent houses in Chennai that were the new luxury abode. In the survey, we included both projects which have been announced recently or the ones which though announced earlier were only getting ready now.

Delhi NCR, in itself has at least seven extremely high-end projects. Top corporate honchos, expatriates and high networth individuals (HNIs) dominate DLF's Magnolias located in DLF Phase V, Gurgaon. The apartments, which will be ready in 1-2 years can go up to a whopping Rs 10 crore with the average size of an apartment at roughly 5,500-10 ,000 sq ft.Attractive rental potential and substantial increase in capital values since 2005, the locational advantage of the golf course and improved connectivity via the operational Delhi-Jaipur 8-lane super expressway are some of the USPs of this project. Says Rajeev Talwar, executive group director, "Luxury apartments are taken up by actual users so demand will always remain.... Anyone who is buying such an apartment does so keeping a variety of factors in mind. Moreover, these are bought by those who have a surplus."

Another project in Gurgaon, Ambience Group's upscale Caitriona project, located in Ambi City NH-8 Gurgaon, will be coming up in 2-3 years and is priced at a royal 8 crore plus tag. Boasting of sevenstar living, it is located amidst the 150-acre Ambience Island premium integrated township.Caitriona offers limited condominiums for a select few. A great golf course view, super premium international designing and complete furnishing for a ready-to-live-in condominium, Caitriona flaunts snob value all the way.Vipin Agrawal, executive director of Omaxe, feels that the current market scenario will have little effect on this segment. "Luxury homes are always in demand. Top CEOs and businessmen are the main occupants here. Hence, whatever be the market dynamics, there will always be an active demand for such projects." The realtor has a luxury project, The Forest, adjoining the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, which sold for Rs 6,500/sq ft.