BENGALURU/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s top real estate firm DLF on Friday said it snagged record bookings in its $4 billion “super luxury” home project near New Delhi, as deep-pocketed buyers scrambled for premium housing.
DLF sold 173 units in “The Dahlias” in Gurugram for about $1.4 billion over nine weeks, it said in a statement, highlighting Indians’ mad rush for luxury living which has seen the affluent splurge on everything, from expensive cars and watches to even bathrooms.
This was also the first time that sales value achieved in a single project has crossed 100 billion rupees ($1.16 billion) in one quarter, data from analytics firm CRE Matrix showed.
The builder is selling 420 units priced at an average of $8 million per unit in the sprawling 17-acre project that boasts duplex penthouses and outdoor decks.
The “overwhelming response” took DLF’s sales bookings for April-December to 191.87 billion Indian rupees, the company said on Friday, above its own full-fiscal outlook of 170-180 billion rupees.
In 2023, DLF sold a $1 billion upmarket residential project in Gurugram in 72 hours.
The trend of affluent Indians buying luxury houses picked up pace after the pandemic, as homebuyers, unfazed by high borrowing costs, keep lapping up bigger, more amenities-laden houses.
Luxury homes accounted for 26% of total residential sales last year, more than three times the level of 2020, according to Mumbai-based Anarock Property Consultants.
Analysts expect this trend to continue in 2025 too, with the rich not skimping on spending even as millions of others cut spending in the face of inflation. Indian sales of Mercedes-Benz cars hit a record high last year, while Lamborghini sold 10% more cars in 2024.
For the third quarter ended Dec. 31, DLF’s consolidated revenues rose by half a percent, while net profit jumped 61%, helped by one-time tax gains.
($1 = 86.1740 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, Hritam Mukherjee and Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
