‘Exclusivity’ gains prominence in Indian Realty Market

While the country’s real estate sector is still maturing, there are already several cities that are seeing new trends. Until few years, Mumbai attracted a unique population that was well travelled and had a flair for unique and exclusive lifestyle. However, in recent past, more cities have emerged with this flair such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. Developers here have understood the growing demand for ‘exclusivity’ and are currently catering to this growing trend.

Exclusivity – A new trend

The recent few years have seen an improvement in the disposable income of residents of several cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Increasing disposable income and demand for an exclusive lifestyle have become key drivers of exclusive housing in India. The segment is growing at about 5-6% annually. To cater to this segment, developers have started developing projects with unique and highly differentiated features.

Exclusive projects are generally aimed at high networth individuals (HNIs). Exclusivity may come in different forms such as locations, designs and features. For example, an apartment complex priced at Rs. 7.5 crores, designed by Armani or ‘Raheja Vivera’ pegged at Rs. 22 crore with an exclusive location are perfect examples of luxury and exclusivity in Mumbai. Bangalore, Pune, Delhi and Hyderabad are few other cities witnessing development of luxury villas with unique amenities.

Exclusive projects club luxury with customization. They bring luxury features such as gym, swimming pools, community hall etc. with customized features to provide convenience to the customer. For example, Lodha Group has partnered with Giorgio Armani’s interior designer studio in order to bring in customized interior decoration for its luxury apartment project in Central Mumbai. Exclusive homes also include several digital technology and gadgets for temperature control, ambience control, electronic surveillance, wireless communication and in-house entertainment. For example, Mantri Developers recently joined hands with CISCO to incorporate technology in one of its luxury project. The project is priced in the range of Rs. 1.4 – 5.8 crore.

Brigade Exotica in Bangalore by the Brigade Group is one example of exclusive residential project with ‘Eco-friendly homes’ as its theme. DLF King’s Court is an exclusive project in Delhi. Sunteck Realty, another Mumbai-focused developer, has tied up with a luxury mobile phone manufacturer to provide concierge services in a residential project. The project is aimed at top corporate executives. Each apartment has a handset through which residents can call a dedicated concierge desk.

Challenges for exclusive housing

The exclusive housing segment does face certain challenges. The buyer segment is small and growing only at 5-6% per annum. It also faces challenges such as available land parcel in the right location within the city limits, the necessary infrastructure and providing the overall feeling of luxury and exclusivity. Getting the right brands on board is another challenge.

Exclusive housing is also not an attractive investment options as the yield from this investment is very low. The larger demand is for affordable housing and the maximum investment yield comes from this segment. The sale velocity too higher in the mid-income level segment.

Nonetheless, exclusive housing is slowly going beyond metros. They are not only present in tier-I cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, but also becoming a growing trend in almost all metropolitan cities.