SPLENDID REVIVAL

The neo rich are fuelling India’s luxury real estate market as much as the old money

- NACHIKET KELKAR

It took DLF, India’s largest real estate developer, just three days to sell its luxury high-rise residential project, ‘The Arbour’, at Golf Course Extension in Gurugram. Priced around ₹7 crore for a four BHK apartment, they were by no means bargainous; and with 1,137 flats in five towers, the project was not a small one, either. But the developer sold flats worth more than ₹8,000 crore even before the project’s launch.

Its location, of course, worked in its favour. “The area has emerged as an accessible and aspirational location being a natural extension to Golf Course Road, with seamless connectivity to other parts of Gurugram, and Delhi and Faridabad,” said Aakash Ohri, group executive director of DLF.

There had been a limited supply of luxury housing projects in Gurugram in the past few years, and the gap had been widening with the increasing demand for larger homes with facilities like swimming pools, clubhouses, multiple parking and concierge services. There has also been a lot of pent up demand in the market, more so after the pandemic, said Vivek Rathi, director of research at real estate consultants Knight Frank. “Applications for the DLF project received were almost four times the number of flats that were on offer. That highlights that the demand is way ahead of the supply.”