From Homes to Experiences: How Housing and Retail Are Redefining Urban Lifestyles
BY Mitul Jain, Managing Director, SPJ Group
The definition of a good address is changing. Location and construction quality remain fundamental, but among premium buyers, the conversation has moved towards what the address enables them to experience every day.
The change is particularly visible in luxury housing. JLL’s Residential Dynamics Report for Q1 2026 shows residential sales across India’s top seven cities rising 8% year-on-year to 70,631 units. More tellingly, sales of homes priced at INR 10 million and above grew 30%, while the INR 15-30 million segment recorded a 67% increase. Luxury homes now account for 71% of total sales, up from 59% a year earlier. The numbers point to a clear shift in what a growing section of urban buyers is willing to spend on.
The profile of this buyer is important. This is a consumer who has travelled, experienced different standards of hospitality and wellness, and is accustomed to having choices. The expectation from a home is therefore not limited to square footage. It extends to the quality of the clubhouse, fitness and wellness facilities, landscaped spaces, work areas, dining and the opportunity to spend time with family or friends without having to leave the development.
ANAROCK’s latest residential review reflects some of these changes. The share of 3BHK and larger homes in buyer preference has risen to around 45-50%, while its research identifies an increasing “amenity and wellness premium” in the premium segment. Projects with wellness-led positioning were found to command a price premium, underlining how lifestyle differentiation is becoming part of the value proposition itself.
This does not mean buyers have stopped looking at the fundamentals. They have simply begun to assign value to a wider set of fundamentals. A home has to work for the way people live today, not merely provide a larger physical envelope.
Retail is undergoing a similar shift, though the trigger is different. The customer is no longer visiting a retail destination only to complete a purchase. Dining, entertainment, discovering a new brand, meeting friends or spending an evening with family can be equally important reasons to visit.
The leasing numbers underline the change. CBRE’s H1 2026 data shows retail leasing reaching approximately 3.9 million sq. ft., up 20% year-on-year. F&B accounted for around 14% of leasing, and entertainment another 9%, reflecting the growing importance of experience-led formats.
Digital-first brands are also moving deeper into physical retail. D2C brands accounted for around 28% of retail leasing in H1 2026, up from 23% a year earlier, as brands increasingly use physical stores to create more immersive customer experiences.
This is also changing how mixed-use developments are being conceived. Residential, retail, hospitality, wellness and leisure are no longer necessarily separate components. When planned well, they reinforce one another. A resident gets convenience without giving up experience, while retail gets a more dependable catchment beyond conventional shopping hours.
For developers, this creates a more demanding brief. Adding amenities, restaurants or entertainment is relatively straightforward. Making them relevant to the people who will actually use the development is much harder. The quality of the experience depends as much on planning, curation and operations as it does on the built form.
The larger shift is therefore not from homes to amenities or from shops to entertainment. It is from selling spaces to creating environments in which people want to spend their time. In premium real estate, that distinction is increasingly becoming the difference between a project that gets noticed and one that earns lasting preference.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those by the author, and not necessarily of Realtynmore.com
