DLF’s luxury high-rise witnesses pre-launch sales of more than Rs 8,000 cr

Desire for home upgradation, work from home culture, and rising income after the Covid induced slowdown have led the homebuyers to invest in the luxury housing segment.

According to the industry experts, luxury housing has become a necessity post Covid which has led to a rise in overall sales in the last three years.

Real estate major DLF has witnessed record-breaking pre-formal launch sales of more than Rs 8,000 crore for its luxury high-rise, The Arbour’ project, in just 3 days. Due to the high demand for high-end homes in the country, DLF is focusing on luxury and ultra-luxury housing despite global recessionary trends and uncertainties.

Aakash Ohri, group executive director and chief business officer, DLF said, “Our latest luxury offering, ‘The Arbour’ has received a phenomenal response even before it was launched. The interest is from the most discerning homebuyers in the country and overseas.”

‘The Arbour’, which marks the entry of DLF in the micro market of Golf Course Extension has crossed DLF’s ‘The Crest’, a market leader in NCR both in terms of rentals and sale. “Our new project is an upgraded version of ‘The Crest’,” Ohri said.

Every aspect of this project brought out a very unique proposition, including 3,950 square feet of large homogenous homes, large decks, 5 towers over 25 acres that attracted individual homebuyers.

Buyers include individual corporate buyers, NRIs, top management officials, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and individual business families. The company received over 3,600 applications.

Over 95 per cent of the buyers are individuals who have bought into ‘The Arbour’ for their end usage.

“Almost 14 per cent were the NRI buyers who were allotted homes. Since the last two years, we have witnessed the larger interest of NRIs and most of the geo-political uncertainties are working in favour of the Indian realty market especially luxury and super luxury segment,” Ohri said.

According to the Anarock, out of the total 3.65 lakh units sold across the top 7 cities in 2022, about 18 per cent were in the luxury category priced above 1.5 crore. However, in 2019, it was just 7 per cent of the total units sold.

MMR, NCR and Hyderabad have led luxury homes sales in 2022. In NCR, luxury housing sales share increased from 4 per cent in 2019 to 16 per cent in 2022. However, Ohri expects at least upwards of 25-35 per cent of luxury segment growth in the coming years.

Realty developers and industry experts on the one hand believe that the recent move by the government to cap long term capital gains at Rs 10 crore could dampen the spirits of luxury home buyers. However, Ohri does not see its major impact on the demand for the luxury segment in the near future.

The company will continue to focus in the existing markets which also includes NCR, Chennai, Panchkula and Mohali.

“This coming year, we have got enough pipelines lined up. The company will enter Noida’s residential market as soon as it gets a good opportunity,” the top executive told Business Standard.

In the beginning of this year, the company was expecting about Rs 8,000 crores of overall sales booking. However, it would end this financial year with around Rs 15,000 crores as against Rs 7,273 crore in the previous year, Ohri said.

DLF has a net debt of around Rs 2,000 crore. It is generating a cash flow of around Rs 500 crores every quarter and it plans to become a zero-debt company by the mid of this calendar year.