by Mr.Mr. Om
Ahuja, CEO – Residential Services, JLL India
Luxury
homes in India are often offered with a very confusing set of qualifying
parameters.
Developers
/ promoters heavily promote specifications and amenities in their marketing collaterals,
but fail to mention a far more critical parameter.
On
analyzing the unfolding luxury homes story in India, it becomes evident that
addresses and pin codes have played an important role in defining luxury in the
traditional sense.
This
continues to be relevant even in the current times, with only a few exceptions
to the rule in the countrys key cities.
Despite
the multiple innovations, design upgradation and enhanced specifications and
amenities visible in the latest crop of luxury offerings, the premium placed on
signature locations still stands high.
One
of the most important reasons for this is that the countrys most hard-boiled
luxury home buyers are extremely focused on the occupant profile of the
projects they consider.
What
Is Occupant Profile?
 |
| Mr. Om Ahuja, JLL India |
Over
& above every other consideration, the occupant profile of a luxury project
is the most definitive and decisive factor for property buyers in this
category. Briefly, it is the profile or the people that reside in the project.
One
of the definitions of luxury is a cut above the rest, and this means that a
luxury home buyer expects to live among people of a certain grade of
professional accomplishment, prominence and social standing. It is, in fact,
the desire to be part of a select peer group.
This is the social environment in which luxury
home buyer wish to inhabit - the the kind of neighbors that they want to have
and socialize with, and whose children they want their own children to befriend
and grow up with.
In short, the term luxury denotes a
very definite degree of social refinement and class to them. While it is not
necessary for a luxury project to have the citys most distinguished
personalities residing there, buyers still aspire to live among like-minded
people from within their own social bracket and intellectual bandwidth.
The occupant profile value factor, though
subjective by nature, can obviously not be replaced or compensated for by
glitzy amenities and specifications. In fact, its presence is more the result
of elimination than of creation, and can only result from either or a
combination of two functions:
* A very selective tailoring of the occupant
profile by the developer
*
Location and pricing attributes that exclude all but the desired profile
of occupants
*
Discerning luxury home buyers will avoid purchasing units in a project
which has attracted an excessively mixed profile of occupants. While lifestyle
aspects such as superior amenities and specifications are definitely desirable
and dovetail with the overall experience, they are not the most important
criterion for the success of a luxury project. These are the dynamics that have
crafted Indias traditional luxury locations areas that are defined by their
residents, rather than their buildings.
Many projects on the market today have failed
to excite the buyers towards whom they were originally targeted because they do
not project the right kind of occupant profile.
On the other hand, luxury homes projects that
have, by intent or because of the right attributes, attracted the right profile
of residents, tend to succeed even if they does not have the benefit of
glamorous specifications and amenities, flashy brochures and staggering
marketing budgets. The investment value of a luxury home is also primarily
driven by this variable.
While resident profile is a key factor defining
luxury at our cities most recognizable addresses, this does not mean that luxury projects do
not succeed at all.
The presence of superior amenities and
specification in new luxury locations beyond the traditional luxury precincts
have been successfully marketed to buyers who are seeking to upgrade for their
existing mid-range homes to ones that offer them a better lifestyle.
Summary
Indian developers have not been fazed by the challenge that the deeper socio-economic connotations of what constitutes luxury poses to their new offerings, and have come out with concepts to seek to defy the premium location logic.
The success with which their efforts have been greeted varies, depending largely on how imaginatively they have been able to bring out the concept of modern luxury in new locations.
It stands to reason that the countrys most prominent residential locations cannot yield many more options for those who look for the highest status value in their homes. However, these buyers will continue to seek specific social environments that developers will have to provide in every new location and project.
About the author..!
Mr. Om
Ahuja, CEO – Residential Services, JLL India
Arun Chitnis
Head Corporate Communications & Media
Relations
JLL India
Pune - 411 001.
Tel: 020 -
30930441 Fax: 020 - 40196101
Mob: +91 9657129999
Website: www.joneslanglasalle.co.in
Blog:
www.joneslanglasalleblog.com/realestatecompass
Twitter: JLLIndia_Realty
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