Bubble-proof luxury properties lure India’s super-rich

One such apartment building in Mumbai throws in a mobile phone linked to a concierge service.

An illustration of a suite at Signature Island. Courtesy Sunteck

The Indian property market is much like any other in that the threat of a bubble is always on the horizon. Bubbles are bad news for all concerned: they leave half-finished buildings, investors with a large shortfall, homeowners feeling less wealthy and a once-powerful driver of economic development faltering.

The few who are not generally concerned with bubbles are the super-rich, who might not even notice the deflation in the market and choose instead to explore new opportunities that are opening. The homes and apartments that these lofty mortals inhabit are often bubble-proof.

Mumbai’s Signature Island hopes to be one such residential oasis of economic stability, set in the Bandra Kurla Complex area of the city –a prime residence in a prime location. This is traditionally a commercial district, but now the country’s finest hotels and finance houses will be the neighbours of this nouveau riche upstart. Sunteck Realty is the developer hoping to attract ultra-luxury and premium residential real estate buyers, an area into which few have dared to venture.

The 18-storey glass and steel building would not stand out in Abu Dhabi or Dubai, but in central Mumbai it is one of the first apartment blocks of its kind in the business core.

The building has everything one would expect from a five-star hotel: temperature-controlled indoor swimming pool, private gym, even its own speciality coffee shop and mini-theatre. However, to make sure the patrons of some of the swankiest apartments and duplexes in India feel special enough, the developer has also teamed up with the exclusive mobile phone maker Vertu. Every domicile will be replete with a concierge-enabled Vertu phone to ensure that whatever the resident wants to arrange, they won’t have to arrange it themselves.

“Our association with luxury cell phone provider Vertu to provide signature concierge services at our marquee projects is said to redefine the essence of concierge services known to date,” said Kamal Khetan, chairman and managing director of Sunteck Realty. “Through our tie-up our patrons will have access to concierge service available in 30 countries worldwide.”