)
Knight Frank's Prime International Residential Index (PIRI) report says Mumbai's real estate witnessed an average price increase of 0.5% in 2012. Going ahead, the prices in Mumbai are going to shoot up by another 2 to 4% this year, and upto ten% by 2014.
According to Knight Frank's wealth report, Mumbai is the 16th most expensive city in the world. The city has moved up from the 36th position last year. As of now Monaco, Hong Kong and Geneva are the top three expensive cities to buy real estate in.
Based on parameters like city's economic activity, quality of life, political power and also the knowledge & influence, a survey was carried out amongst HNWI where they were asked to rank top 40 cities. According to their views, New York and London topped the list, whereas Mumbai only got the 38th position.
With the rise in India's HNWI population, investment in property across the globe is also expected to increase. India currently has 122 billionaires and this number is expected to increase to 225 billionaires by 2022. Mumbai and Delhi have the maximum number of HNWI population. In 2013, property investment will be increasing driven by a desire to gain exposure to economic recovery around the world.
The instability of the global economy has promoted luxury homes to safe heaven status among the wealthy. Additionally, the attraction of storing wealth in tangible assets looks set to continue this year as well. 25% of the HNWI population across the globe plans to allocate some part of their investments into real estate this year. For HNWIs returns and safety are on the priority list while investing in real estate.
The number of enquiries made by HNWI population about looking at investing in properties abroad has gone up by a good 60% over last year. 'However, these enquiries will take time to get converted into transactions, as the trend has just picked up. They are looking at investing in residential properties in Europe, Middle-East and South-East Asian countries,” adds Das.
As per Knight Frank's luxury investment index, the super-wealthy this year will show interest in investments such as art, fine wine, classic cars, coins and watches this year.
