What drives the growth of theme-based housing?

Shubhranshu Pani, Managing Director – Strategic Consulting, JLL India

Growing competition and rising aspiration has led to more sophisticated real estate development in India. With increased globalization, Indian consumers are rapidly being exposed to global standards and desire to live a luxurious life. This is acting as a cue for developers to develop classier projects.

Enviable location, spacious living spaces and pleasing architectural design are the basic expectation of modern home buyers in the prime residential category. With architecture becoming an important criterion of choosing a property, urbane residences have emerged as a successful strategy in the Indian real estate domain. To differentiate their residential products, add a unique dimension and meet the growing aspirational demand of buyers, developers are now coming up with theme-based housing projects in various cities of India.

They are launching these projects in and around metropolitan regions such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, etc., primarily due to their higher concentration of corporate employees with high disposable incomes. The buyers of luxury theme-based projects are niche clients, as these projects target a specific category of clienteles such as HNIs and NRIs, and are customised to meet their demands.

Taking Luxury To The Next Level

Parks, swimming pools and health clubs and many other features now form the basis of any residential development, and are no longer considered luxurious. Theme-based projects are more elegant; they are developed on various themes such as international culture, geography, IT, sports, children and senior living, among others. On the architectural front, Egyptian, Arabic, Spanish, Mediterranean, Roman and Moroccan themes are some of those being imprinted on such housing projects at the design level. Sports Cities and Disney-inspired residential projects are among the most popular currently. There is no doubt that theme-based projects help attract both developers and end buyers as like-minded people of same profession, when compared to normal projects.

Examples Of Themed Luxury Projects

• Bengaluru-based Vakil Housing is coming up with Vakil Hamlet, which is based on medieval English lifestyles and Moghul Garden City, which replicates the Shalimar Gardens
• Purvankara Builders is offering the lifestyle of Venice in Bengaluru at Purva Venezia
• Akshaya Group has tied up with Disney to develop a Disney theme residential project of 47 acres in Chennai
• Another Disney themed project by Supertech is Fable Castle on Yamuna Expressway
• Ambrosia by Ajnara Group in Noida is a residential community built on a Spanish theme
• A Rome-themed residential project in Noida is being developed by Supertech
• Lavasa Villas in the Lavasa region of Pune is inspired by the Mediterranean theme
• DLF Ridgewood Estate in Gurgaon is yet another housing project exhibiting Mediterranean-style architecture

These are just a few examples of luxurious theme-based projects in India today.

Due to the novelty factor attached to theme-based housing, this type of development will witness quite a lot of growth in times to come. Developers in India are now entering into joint ventures with foreign interior designers, international architects, design firms and hospitality brands to develop many more theme-based residential projects.