Rs 3 crore flats selling like hot cakes

When DLF launched its Magnolias project adjacent to its golf course in Gurgaon, one could have forgiven scepticism over their saleability. Each of the 300 flats in the proect was priced at Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million).

Not any more. A little over 70 per cent of the apartments has already been sold.

The ultra premium residential project is the most expensive offering of its kind from the Delhi-based real estate company.

The rates work out to Rs 4,500 per sq ft for the first phase to almost Rs 10,000 per sq ft for the penthouses. The pricing makes Magnolias one of the most expensive residential properties in the industry.

The flats in the 15,000 sq ft project which will be completed in three phases have been, according to the company, allotted only on the basis of invitation.

"The runaway success of our other similar project, Aralias, prompted us to start this project. We realised that there is a huge market for high-end luxury houses and this project aims to address the needs of the consumers," said DLF corporate communication vice president Vijay Vancheswar.

If the company is to be believed, 149 apartments in phase one of the project have already been sold while 80 per cent of the second phase, consisting of 81 apartments, have been booked.

Buoyed by the response, DLF is expected to open the third phase of the project, conssiting of 70 apartments, soon. Not only that, it is also scouting for land for a similar project in Delhi.

"We intend to create a niche market for high-end luxury houses. Most of our clientele mostly belong to the high end corporate world especially young business executives. We realise that people at the upper crust of the society prefer to stay at places where influential and like minded people live," said Vancheswar justifying the need to allot by invitation.

According to the company, the project, launched in September this year, has seen "tremendous" appreciation. The rates for the apartments have gone up from Rs 4500 per sq ft in September to Rs 5,825 per sq ft.

Similarly rates for the upper end penthouses which were close to Rs 9,000 per sq ft have increased to Rs 9,800 per sq ft. Facilities like central airconditioning and an exclusive nine-hole golf course stand out among the host of facilities that will be provided in the project.