Setting a new benchmark for apartments in the super-luxury segment in the national capital region, a local developer is offering 7,672 square feet of super area at a basic price ranging between Rs 13,500 and Rs 14,750 per square foot (sq ft), the highest in the region.
The property is attracting keen interest in the market and analysts said it indicates the market for luxury properties remains strong as ever.
The 240-apartment property is being developed by Ambience Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd, a company promoted by Raj Singh Gehlot. Located 800 metres from the toll gate on the Delhi-Jaipur expressway of national highway 8, the 150-acre site borders the vast Rajokri greens.
The smallest apartment in the Ambience project - The Caitriona - has a basic sale price of Rs 9 crore, while the largest carries a basic tag of Rs 11.31 crore.
There are other charges that buyers have to bear: for preferential location, an open terrace with the penthouse apartment and two car parking spaces for Rs 6 lakh each.
Adding these up means the acquisition cost works out to Rs 15 crore to Rs 20 crore, depending on the size of the apartment. Buyers also have to pay an interest-bearing maintenance deposit of Rs 200 a sq ft.
A buyer, however, gets Italian marble everywhere, central airconditioning, an unhindered view of the Rajokri green or a nine-hole golf course, rooms fitted with LCD televisions, a reception, waiting lounge and business centre in each tower.
Other standard features include jacuzzis and sauna equipment in each bathroom. All of this comes with a functional one-year warranty after possession.
Analysts say at this offer price (a 10 per cent down-payment rebate on the basic sale price), the apartments are the priciest that the NCR has seen to date. But if you thought that buyers would be scarce given the current real estate slump, a reality check is in order.
Sold by invitation only for some time now, buyers of these still-to-be constructed flats include a famous Bollywood star with a penchant for bear hugs, executives with multinational telecom companies and ultra-rich businessmen.
Asked about the buyers, Gehlot does not take names, but said his clients are people who "have arrived in life". "It is easy to sell these apartments. Such properties are always in demand, whatever the state of the economy is. There is no competition to this property. Its location cannot be matched by any other developer," he added.
This is certainly not the first luxury apartment of its kind in the NCR. Around the same time last year, DLF Ltd had launched 5,000 sq ft apartments in Greater Kailash II in New Delhi priced at Rs 8 crore and more.
The company has another project - The Magnolias, a 410-apartment complex on an 18-hole golf course in Gurgaon - that sold for around Rs 7,500 a sqft.
In Noida, Unitech has the Grande project, where top-of-the-line apartments sold for Rs 4.5 crore last year. Today, prices are up for these properties also.
Source: Siddharth Zarab From www.business-standard.com 19/May/2008
