Luxury Housing Is No Longer Niche, It’s a Mainstream Wealth Strategy
By Ashwani Kumar, Pyramid Infratech
In the last few years, the luxury real estate projects have witnessed a new fondness. It is reflected in the numbers. In the first half of 2025, close to 7,000 high-end units were sold in India’s top seven cities, an 85% year-on-year rise, as per a report jointly released by CBRE South Asia and ASSOCHAM. Delhi-NCR alone absorbed roughly 57% of that. Numbers like these usually get framed as momentum. They are, but that’s not the entire story.
There was a time, not many years ago, when an apartment worth Rs. 5-10 crore was explained, even justified, in terms of lifestyle: better air, a gated community, a certain address. Today, it has tilted toward allocation. Portfolio language has steadily moved into the conversations. The buyer is no longer asking if this is indulgent; he is asking how it compares with other assets he understands less.
Prices have kept up their end of the argument. Across the top seven cities, luxury housing has appreciated by roughly 40% since 2022, according to ANAROCK Research. Delhi-NCR has been ahead in that curve, closer to 70% over three years, depending on the micro-market and the way one slices inventory. And yet, the more interesting shift is not price. It is behaviour.
In Gurugram, for instance, investors who would typically rotate capital across debt instruments and equities are now holding on to a second or even third premium apartment longer than they initially intended. Not because liquidity is an issue, but because the asset feels, oddly, more “visible.” You can visit it, lease it, or leverage it. There is a psychological clarity that a demat statement does not provide.
At another level, rental yields in NCR’s luxury segment hover around 3-4% annually, modest on paper, but recent pockets have seen rental escalations of 7-9% within short windows, particularly in newer high-rise clusters. It’s not spectacular income, but it is steady enough to offset holding costs, and occasionally more than that. Capital appreciation still does the heavy lifting. Rental just adds to its attractiveness.
HNIs and NRIs are not just buying homes; they are stacking positions. A branded residence in one city, a plotted development in another, maybe a fractional stake somewhere else. The luxury apartment becomes the anchor, not because it yields the most, but because it behaves predictably enough. That predictability, even if partly perceived, is being priced in.
Developers have sensed this before analysts fully articulated it. The rise of branded residences, documented in reports by firms like JLL Homes, is less about concierge services and more about trust. Buyers are effectively outsourcing everyday hassles to a brand.
Infrastructure has, of course, played its part. The Dwarka Expressway is the obvious example, pulling premium supply along with it. Corporate migration into NCR, particularly through Global Capability Centres, has added another layer. Senior executives relocating, sometimes temporarily, sometimes not, prefer ready, high-grade inventory. Rentals follow.
At the same time, site visits for premium projects now include more spreadsheet discussions than design conversations. Floor plans still matter, but so do ROIs, even if loosely calculated on the back of a phone screen.
However, new launches are clustered in a few cities. For example, a large chunk of approximately 7,000 units sold in H1 2025 are concentrated in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Hyderabad. Supply is not exactly scarce, but prime supply is. And perhaps that’s where the shift feels most real. Luxury housing hasn’t become mainstream in the way affordable housing once aspired to be. It has become mainstream within a certain band of capital, upper-mid income, HNIs, NRIs, where the question is no longer whether to enter, but how much to allocate, and where.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author, and not necessarily of Realty&More
