I'm posting the below article which recently appeared courtesy of the Economic Times, India, just to show how much more expensive cities are in India. The below prices fairly takes one breath away! And what kind of jobs do the apartment purchasers do exactly that they can afford such prices?! And we thought it was getting expensive in Tiruvannamalai!
“An apartment on the 100th floor of 'Burj Khalifa', the world's tallest building and one of the most-sought after addresses in the world today, comes at a price of Rs. 38,000 per sq ft. But if you think that's a soaring price, consider this; the real estate price in Delhi will beat that by a mile, reports Economic Times
The apartments on Prithviraj Road and Aurangzeb Road in Central Delhi are much more expensive. While, the per sq ft rate of apartments in Marble Arch and Tata Apartments on Prithviraj Road is around Rs. 65,000 per sq ft, Ansal apartments on Aurangzeb Road have a price of Rs. 55,000 per sq ft, according to Senior Broker Hemendra Sharma.
In Vasant Vihar and Chanakya Puri in South Delhi, apartments built on smaller plots of 400-800 sq metres are commanding prices of around Rs. 45,000 per sq ft. In fact, there are not many luxury condominiums available in central and south Delhi. However, there are several bungalows on independent plots of around three acres with a permitted area of construction of 3500 sq ft to 10,000 sq ft. These plots are commanding a price of Rs. 200 crore to Rs. 500 crore. So the per sq ft cost of these bunglow comes to a whopping Rs. 5 lakh per sq ft.
Condominiums in Mumbai are even costlier. The per sq ft rate in Mumbai's NCPA Apartments at Nariman Point is between Rs. 90,000 and Rs. 1 lakh.
Gulam Zia, National Director, research and advisory services of global property consultants Knight Frank says, "In the posh upmarket localities of Delhi and Mumbai, where there is a scarcity of land, property prices have shot through the roof." Adds Zia, "Property prices in Mumbai's western and central suburbs of Worli, Lower Parel and Prabhadevi are upwards of Rs. 40,000 per sq ft."
Real estate prices in India are inverse to the country's image of a developing nation. "Mumbai and Delhi command one of the highest per sq ft rates in the world," says Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CB Richard Ellis, South Asia, a leading global property consultancy firm.
In India while the land cost itself is high, the cost of quality is even higher. If one is paying Rs. 38,000 per sq ft for an apartment in the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for the same price or more in Mumbai or Delhi one will only be paying for the location and not for the construction or amenities. In terms of amenities and quality there is just no comparison. Magazine adds that, in the U.S. when a buyer looks to buy a home, he or she first looks for the amenities on offer that would suit his or her lifestyle, whereas in India it's all about land and location for the buyer.
While Mumbai and New Delhi are in a zone by themselves as far as realty pricing is considered, other big cities like Chennai and Bangalore are yet to see such pricing, though the rates have dramatically shot up in the recent past.”
