What's Behind the Rise in India’s Uber Luxury Housing?
23 May 2025 6:10 PM IST
Have you ever wondered what the super rich in India live like?
Though the other segments of real estate aren’t doing so well, as The Core has covered before, luxury and specifically the ultra luxury segment – that’s residential property worth 50 crores and above – grew at a rate of 483% last year, from 29 units in 2024 to 169 in 2025.
When we say uber luxury, we’re not talking about your apartment condos with shared pools and gyms; instead, we’re talking whole floors, and sometimes several, combined together, in elite, exclusive properties at prime locations.
In this episode, The Signal Daily speaks to Mr. Ghulam Zia of Knight-Frank, a global real estate consultancy. What’s with the crazy rise in ultra luxury housing? How do the uber rich live?
NOTE: A machine transcribed this episode. A human has looked at this text but there might still be errors. Please refer to the audio above, if you need to clarify something. If you want to give us feedback, please write to us at [email protected].
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TRANSCRIPT
Kudrat (Host): Have you ever wondered what the super rich in India live like? In the past decade, there’s been a boom in Indian billionaires and Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals or UHNIs, defined as people whose net worth is 30 million dollars or more. A report by Knight-Frank says that in 2019, the country boasted of seven billionaires. In 2025, that number blew up, and is now at 191. Reports say that that figure will keep growing at a rate of 12%, meaning India will continue producing more of the super rich.
Knight Frank also found that luxury and ultra luxury real estate, a favourite investment of the super rich, is also growing at a phenomenal rate in the country. Though the other segments of real estate aren’t doing so well, as The Core has covered before, luxury and specifically the ultra luxury segment – that’s residential property worth 50 crores and above – grew at a rate of 483% last year, from 29 units in 2024 to 169 in 2025.
When we say uber luxury, we’re not talking about your apartment condos with shared pools and gyms; instead, we’re talking whole floors, and sometimes several combined together, in elite, exclusive properties at prime locations. Most of these apartments are in Mumbai, though there’s your Camilias in Gurugram, a complex with only 100-crore apartments. The interiors of these homes are as fancy as it gets – private pools and gardens, even in high-rises, private elevators and elevators that transport you and your car. The décor is taste-dependent – it could be shiny like US President Trump’s properties, famously known for their gold décor. Or it could be more muted and classy. Rest assured, if your house costs 100 crore, the interiors usually cost at least 25 crores as well.
Kudrat (Host): My name is Kudrat Wadhwa, and you’re listening to The Signal Daily. We don’t do ‘hot takes.’ Instead, we’ll bring you deep dives into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of consumer trends.
In this episode, I’ll speak to Ghulam Zia of Knight-Frank, a global real estate consultancy. What’s with the crazy rise in ultra luxury housing? How do the uber rich live?
KW: Mr. Zia, thank you for talking to us. Um, so, you know, um, Knight Frank published a report recently that said that, uh, there's been this crazy rise in ultra luxury homes in India and ultra luxury home, so specifically that rise has been 482%. Um, and my question is like, what's behind this? Like, phenomenal rise?
GZ: Well, to start with, uh, let's understand that this caliber of luxury housing was earlier unheard, unheard of Historically, we haven't seen such kind of, uh, movement in, uh, the upper end of residential market.
Okay. The previous time around, uh, GFC global financial crisis is where we did see some amount of, uh, uh, luxury houses coming up. But uh, that was nothing compared to where we are today. So for last, almost about 12, 15 odd years, there was a serious dearth of this category of housing. And, uh, today when we are talking about these numbers, which are looking crazily high, is purely because of a very low base, which we had say last year and beyond.
So when few of these large developers like, uh, Loda, DLF, et cetera, are launching these projects and, uh, talking about catering to only a hundred core plus kind of categories, these were actually absolutely new categories that we have created. And hence when we are talking uber luxury or ultra luxury, whatever you call it.
Yeah, the numbers that you're talking are looking astronomical, because there was hardly any base earlier.
Now, question is also why or how is it happening? Uh, uh, how part is, uh, I would say, you know, post, first of all, uh, the other side of Covid, where was the wealth created?
The upper end of the market actually was, uh, the most. The quickest to, uh, get back in action and wealth creation, be it on, uh, stock exchanges, equity markets, or, uh, uh, you know, overall the growth in Indian economy. Uh. The GDP growing, you know, four, four and a half trillion, turning into the fourth or third largest country by way of GDP in the world, et cetera, did create huge wealth at the upper end of the market, while a different picture at the lower end, at the bottom end, but upper end has actually huge wealth is created over here.
And that wealth, you know, was brought into real estate. So people actually started buying. And on the other side, let's also not forget, India has created lots of these unicorns. Many of those founders of those organizations in the last five, six years who suddenly have started going public, huge amount of money was created and they started buying their dream houses and hence this movement, if I can call it that, started at the back of these two or three factors.
KW: So what cities are most of these, uh, ultra luxury homes in, in India, and why, like that city specifically?
GZ: Okay, so actually, you know, if we are talking about awareness about luxury, it's all over the country. You know, even in tier two, tier three, cities, B case today, Indians are much more well traveled, have seen the world, et cetera. Mm-hmm. So the demand for luxury housing is all over, it's all over the country.
However, the, the story that we are talking about, because in these top few cities, your, uh, markets are, uh, the, the land values are high. The values are breaching those 40, 50 crores. I see. So that is essentially focused between these three cities, most of it in Mumbai, then Delhi is the next one. Bangalore also is now picking up and creating such kind of houses, but majority of it comes from Mumbai.
KW: So, you know, in this like 483%, uh, rise in Mumbai, are these bungalows or are these mostly apartments? Condos with like amenities and stuff?
GZ: you know, none of these uber luxury houses you're talking about our bungalows. Oh, for both, whether it is Mumbai or Delhi. The land is the, the is in a scarcity and bungalows require, you know, horizontal development requires huge amount of land, whereas, uh, high rises on a very small footprint, you can create multitude of apartments and large communities and et cetera, et cetera.
So what we're talking about are the luxury condos. We are talking about large apartments or even duplex and triple plays. Okay. In many cases, uh, the buyers of this category or this segment buys multiple units contiguous so that they then create a large unit of themselves. Mm-hmm. So while developers have also over a period of time started creating those larger units.
But, uh, buyers have always been, uh, you know, going for multitude, multiple of these units, you know, uh, stacked together to create larger houses. So essentially, to conclude on your answer, the, the question that you asked, these are, none of these are bungalows. These are, uh, high-end apartments created, uh, on a different caliber altogether.
KW: So even if it's just one family living in it, it still wouldn't be classified as a bungalow if it has, you know, factors of a high rise?
GZ: another important aspect that you need to bear in mind, keep in mind, and especially in Mumbai, when you're in Mumbai, you would go for seaview.
Yeah. A bungalow, essentially. Even if it offers a seaview today. May not tomorrow because some other development will come in front of it. Yeah. So only in order to rise above the, the, uh, what should I say, the uglier side of, uh, the city? Yeah. You would rise above to see the beautiful side of it, and that is why no more bungalows but high rises.
Okay. So an an has taken shape. Purely because while it is on a high ground, it's on a high altitude, but still there have been enough and more properties in front of it. So to breach all that, you know, visual barriers, you go high and get to see the, the beauty of the city from top.
KW: Then the last question was about, uh. A hundred crore homes versus 50 crores versus one crore, where one still comes under luxury from my understanding in the Indian context. So like how does a luxury home differ from 50 crows Uber luxury versus a hundred crows uber luxury?
GZ: First of all, let us also identify the importance of, uh, land value in the whole concept of, uh, luxury homes. Yeah. So when you are creating, for example, in Mumbai, uh, you have many different locations where luxury apartments can be built.
So in all these locations, what's important is the value of land. Yeah. If your value of land a certain amount, then on top of it, when you are constructing Yeah. Like for example, the 200,000 rupees square feet home. Yeah. The, the cost of construction would still not go above 25,000 rupees.
And then let's also understand, that many of them have been buying multiple apartments together. So there are, there are instances while, uh, 360 West is a very famous project in Mumbai Bio. And, uh, that project has, uh, you know, it's a high rise. In which people are buying 180 crore, 200 crore kind of apartments.
But those are multiple apartments bought together. Right. So say, uh, a 40, 50 crore apartments, but then you're buying five of them. Yeah. So you have a two 50 crore property. Yeah. Your property is breaching that limit. Yeah. But in that high rises, there are multiple apartments, which would also be costing 50 growth.
Okay. So your question are specific to your, uh, words that you use. A 50 crore and a two 50 crore apartment would exist in the same highrise, same building. Okay. Right. Yeah. So here you need to be cautious to identify what defines like most of these, uh, projects that are coming up in, uh, the South Mumbai location.
KW: And what about neighbors, like being neighbors with the ambanis, does that also shoot up the house price?
GZ: Not really, you know, because, uh. Even if you are a neighbor, you are kind of a gated, uh, property. Unless Mr. ambani is, or, or anybody for that matter, in the same community you are on one floor and they are on the other floor. Okay. But even then, you know, there are these high-end, um, uh, uh, security systems today where, like a hotel, the key that you have can take you to only the floor where you live.
Not just that there are multiple of such propositions where. Your vehicles actually go to your floor.
KW: Wow.
GZ: So there are these lift elevators that you actually drive into your building, get into the elevator.
The elevator is taking you to your floor. So you are creating kind of a sky villa. Yeah. Where it could then be a bungalow, but then you will have 25 bungalows on top of each other. Wow. Where you're taking your elevator, you're enjoying all exclusivity is like a bungalow, but then it's a high rise. So this is the definition of the Uber luxury and the stuff Wow.
That we are creating in Mumbai. And I think even Delhi is not too far off.
KW: Really? Wow. I guess I just live in a very different world.
GZ: All of us do.
KW: So what other amenities, uh, do they have?
GZ: In this category, developers are giving bare shell properties. Hmm. I see. So they don't give anything to you? Yeah. You, they're just giving you, you know, not even four walls. Of course. If you have, uh, the, the facade, supposing it was a glass facade, so they're giving you a, a complete open floor open hall.
And in that hall, you, you know, uh, maybe 10,000 square foot area in which you will sit with your architect and say, I will create a wall here. Yeah. Which will be between two bedrooms, so my bedroom will look like this, and so on and so forth. And somewhere I'll have a private pool. Hmm. So this is more internal from the buyer perspective, more than a developer.
Developers today in this category, don't do anything interiors because. Somebody who's buying a 200 core apartment will definitely spend 20 crore in doing it up. Yeah. And when you're spending 20 crew doing up your apartment, you are going to buy the finishings, et cetera, from best of the resources in the world.
Yeah. You will hire the best of the architects in the world who will be coming and doing your own interiors basis. Your requirement. Yeah. So developers know it very well. Developers are not infringing upon your right to create the space the way you want it. Yeah. So they are giving you a bare shell structure.
You come and you infuse the lease of life into it the way you want it. So then it's your apartment. So whether you want a pool here or whatever that again, the amenities and facilities which are typically spoken about are not even a subject here in the Uber luxury because again, as I said.
Imagine the concept I was talking about that I have, I, I drive in, I take my, my, uh, yeah, my vehicle to my floor.
There is no concept of a common facility at all. Yeah. Wow. So you are not sharing any facility with anybody. Mm. It's your exclusive facility. You are creating it. You are creating it for yourself.
That is the concept of Uber luxury.
Kudrat (Host): The reason behind that humongous 483% number, as Mr. Zia explained, is two-fold, both a rise in demand from the uber rich and an earlier dearth of that level of luxury housing in the country. The kind of amenities these houses boast are a world apart too. Private pools and helipads are commonplace here; we’re talking personal elevators that the wealthy drive into to park their cars in their private parking in their 10th floor triplex.
Sounds like a fantasy? Well, there is something that you might be able to relate to the super rich with.
As Mr. Zia said, developers of ultra luxury homes sell them bare bones. Their residents then work on the house themselves, according to their tastes. Maybe you’re not able to afford a 50 or 100 crore home. But, the next time you buy new furniture to updo your space, remember that that’s at least one thing you have in common with The Ambanis.
Kudrat (Host): That’s all for today. You just heard The Signal Daily. We don’t do hot takes. Instead, we’ll bring you deep dives into the ‘how’ and ‘why’ on consumer trends.
The Core produces The Signal Daily. Follow us wherever you get your favourite podcasts. To check out the rest of our work, go to www.thecore.in.
If you have feedback, we’d love to hear from you. Write to us @[email protected].
Thank you for listening.
