Slowdown is passe. As the number of millionaires and billionaires keeps rising, real estate developers are eying a pie of the high net worth HNI wealth with super luxury houses, which had gone out of fashion in the wake of the global slowdown.

Developers from the US, the UK, Singapore and the UAE, are betting big on Indians who are capable of buying Rs 1.5 crore plus properties.

According to Pranay Vakil, chairman of Knight Frank India, real estate prices have become affordable. There is also a new law under which one can legitimately take $2, 00,000 out of India and invest in properties or shares. This has facilitated Indian HNI investment in properties abroad.

In fact, prices at various places around the world have fallen sharply between 10 and 40 per cent. Also, rupee has become strong against pound and dollar. So one can actually buy a house, even if not a luxurious one, in London Vakil said.

Knight Frank, a realty consultancy, has actually seen a lot of queries pouring in for properties in London and Singapore.

The real estate prices in Dubai have also seen a steep fall. One can actually buy a villa in Dubai posh Palm Island for Rs 5 crore. This is almost one third of the price Dubai-based developers were quoting earlier, said an industry insider.

According to Abdul Rahim, an official with RAK Properties in Ra Al Khaimah that is coming up with a big project in UAE, more than 30 per cent of the super luxury villas facing the sea have been bought by rich Indians. We have completed the first phase of our project in Ra Al Khaimah and of the 93 villas that were sold, 40 were bought by Indian HNIs, Rahim said.

The failure of two government-owned companies in Dubai has sent the property prices crashing. If a high-end row house was being sold at Rs 2.5 crore plus in June 2009, the same property is available at Rs 1.5 crore. Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority, a government-promoted company is selling 2, 3 and 4 BHK row houses near Dubai for 560-850 dirhams per sq ft.

According to Ali Essa Ahmad, a senior business development official with the company, prices were somewhere around 1,200 dirhams per sq ft onward a few months ago. This is the lowest price being offered and we are getting good response from Indians for bookings, he told FC Estate.

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