Luxury housing has made a comeback across the country this year with the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) seeing the maximum sales in the first half of the year, a report released by Anarock, a leading real estate services company, said on Monday.
According to the report, 25,700 units — with a price tag of ₹1.5 crore or more — were sold in the first half of 2022 while 17,740 such units were sold in the entire year of 2019.
The report said MMR and NCR accounted for the sale of approximately 17,830 such units in the first six months of 2022. In comparison, in 2019, only 11,890 luxury homes were sold in these two regions, according to the report.
Anarock said most of the luxury home buyers are also end-users, who are buying these as second homes, holiday homes and elderly homes. Realty consultants and experts in Gurugram concurred with the Anarock report and said there has been an uptick in the sale of apartments in the premium and luxury segment this year with people preferring larger homes — in the ₹75 lakh to ₹1.5 crore category.
Experts said stability in the job market, increase in salaries and better economic conditions are acting as significant boosters to the market.
Vinod Behl, a Gurugram-based real estate expert, said the trend of owning a spacious premium/luxury home is returning, despite rising interest rates and increasing prices, as developers are offering attractive deals.
“India has also seen the maximum salary hikes in the Asia Pacific region, jobs are more stable and there is no more despair about the future. The idea of owning a home, which got stalled during the past two years owing to Covid-19, is still motivating people to buy homes,” he said. As per the report, the sale of luxury homes rose to 12% of the total stock in the first half of 2022 compared to 4% in the first half of 2019. The report said approximately 184,000 units were sold in these cities in the first half of 2022, and about 14% (approximately 25,700 units) were luxury homes.
In comparison, of the 261,000 units sold in 2019, 7% (approximately 17,740 units) were in the luxury category. Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock, said the important thing to note is that it is mainly the end-users, who are driving the luxury housing sales. “Even though the typical buyer in this segment isn’t as impacted by the pandemic as the rest, HNIs (high net-worth individuals) are cost-conscious. Discounts by developers made luxury properties very attractive for these buyers and NRIs (non-resident Indians) have been snapping up luxury homes because of the favourable exchange rates.”
Buoyed by the increase in demand, developers have also increased the supply with almost 28,000 flats being launched in the first six months of 2022 being in the luxury category, as compared to 28,960 such apartments in 2019.
“Today’s buyers have directed their purchase decisions towards luxury homes, while earlier they would invest in other assets or luxury goods. A significant trend this year has been an influx in the demand for homes in the luxury segment, which offer them a living experience beyond bricks and mortar,” said Aakash Ohri, group executive director and chief business officer, DLF Limited.
The affordable housing segment (units priced less than ₹40 lakh) saw its sales dip from 38% in the first half of 2019 to 31% in the first half of 2022, the report said. “The mood of the real estate buyers in the current scenario is juxtaposed in favour of luxury housing and premium gated societies. The sales amplification has also prompted developers to launch new luxury projects and tap into future market potential,” said Ashwani Kumar of Pyramid Infratech.
Source : HT
