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Vashi2Panvel.com: Navi Mumbai: December 9: Navi Mumbai has a snob appeal touch to it now, what with a plethora of ‘luxury flats’ mushrooming here and several others still in the pipeline. And Navi Mumbaites also seem all set to splurge on their dream homes. The customers are offered not just spacious rooms but high end amenities too. But, what precisely is a luxury apartment?

Says AK Quereshi of Concrete Builders, which will soon enter into the niche luxury flats market, “Luxury flats are all about the ‘view’! I don’t say that the amenities and space is less necessary but a luxury flat would be apt if one has a panoramic window view. A view of waste-dump or highway is not at all a good idea.” But for Suyog Purushottam of Haware Groups, opinions on luxury flats can be subjective. “What is luxury for me may not be for you necessarily. Unless you are offering high end facilities and spacious rooms, ‘view’ is of no value and vice versa.”

Niranjan Hiranandani of Hiranandani constructions defines luxury flats as “flats that offer at least 10 times more amenities and value-added services than an ordinary one like greater space, Servant’s quarters, Italian marble finish, covered parking etc. As far as the rates are concerned, they depend upon the demand and supply in the market. They can get 10 percent to 20 per cent more expensive than the ordinary flats.”

But, the luxury flats in South Mumbai are luxurious in the true sense of the term with greater value-added services and space. Not to mention, the builders and agents equally are raking in immense mullah from these upcoming apartments. The definition of luxury flats varies again here. Says Vijay Bhai, a Cuffe Parade based estate agent, “The standard of living is exceptionally high here. There is no dearth to the high-end amenities like golf club, swimming pool, health clubs, free outgoing and maintenance, a garden et al. Besides, there are banks and general stores in the society for the convenience of the residents. As far as the flats are concerned, they are spacious and well lit with a separate servant room, automatic hi-tech doors, door cameras, tight security vigilance, Italian marble work, granite bathrooms and what not!”

Right now, the builders in Navi Mumbai are only offering marble flooring, vitrified tiles, decorative doors and balconies as ‘luxury’. Yet, the prices are not as modest as the flats appear to be. For a 3 BHK, 1600sq.ft. Flat, the price quoted by Haware group is 54 lacs while for a 2000sq.ft. area pent house can cost as much as 70 lacs rupees. On the contrary, the average area of the luxury flats in South Mumbai range between 25000sq ft to 35000 sq ft with rates being a whooping Rs.2000 to Rs.5000 per sq ft. So in the real sense luxury is limited to the money a buyer needs to fish out and not the actual amenities that luxury flats are supposed to provide.

Swati Pandey