After reporting that the first phase of The Westpark, its maiden residential project in Mumbai, has been fully “sold out”, real estate major DLF is looking to expedite its growth in the city, including the second phase of the project.
In a media roundtable on July 25, the firm's joint managing director and chief business officer, Aakash Ohri, said that a number of proposals are on the table, although a decision on the projects to be taken up will take a longer time.
The Westpark was launched on July 17 and the company says it "sold" 416 apartments across four towers, with an initial booking amount of Rs 35 lakh. Ohri said that registrations are expected to be concluded in a month's time.
The inventory was priced between Rs 4.5 crore and Rs 8 crore, with higher prices for a handful of penthouses across the four towers that were launched.
While the initial inventory, around half of the 416 apartments on sale, had a starting price of Rs 37,000 per sq ft, Ohri said that it realised an average price of Rs 42,500 per sq ft, owing to a price increase it took for the remaining inventory due to the "overwhelming" demand for the first phase.
Now, DLF plans to push ahead with the launch of the rest of the project, with provisions for four more towers at the site. "The response to the project is a huge endorsement for DLF. Around 19-20 percent of the demand came from non-resident Indians (NRIs). While we realised Rs 42,500 per sq ft from the apartments on sale, we managed to sell the penthouses at a rate of Rs 70,000 per sq ft...Despite the large number of projects in the area, we got a premium of Rs 4,000 per sq ft over other developers...Our plan now is to expedite the approval process for the second phase of the project, which we plan to launch mid-2026, at a higher price point," Ohri said, during the interaction.
The approvals are expected to be slightly more complex than that of some other projects, as DLF is executing The Westpark as part of a slum rehabilitation project in collaboration with Trident Realty. The latter is responsible for land clearance and building the rehabilitation apartments.
Developers are allowed to build the free sale component only after a significant portion of the slum rehabilitation units are completed.According to figures shared by the developers, 1,082 units of the slum rehabilitation component have been delivered in the first phase, with the second phase slated to include 1,777 units.
This component also includes 126 units to be added to the housing stock of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA). The slum rehabilitation and free-sale components of the projects will have separate entrances.
For the second phase of the project, Ohri said that the company is targeting a price point above Rs 50,000 per sq ft. He added that customers in the first phase demanded larger flats, with the units in the first phase sized between 1,125 sq ft and 1,500 sq ft.
Beyond the Andheri project, Ohri said that a number of proposals are on the table for the company to consider, from a wide variety of geographies, including the western suburbs and the island city. "We have five to 20 proposals from various societies and landowners have approached us for undertaking redevelopment work. These projects are in Andheri, western suburbs, as well as south Mumbai. Our teams are assessing the proposals based on their size and viability, and a final decision will be taken by the board," Ohri said.
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