Last year, as the IT crowd returned from their hometowns to their work-from-office locations, a snippet of news revealed their housing preferences. While rents usually increase at the rate of 7-8% per cent per year, the asking rent for flats in Bengaluru’s gated communities increased by as much as 40%!
Clearly, well-off families in metropolitan areas have a predilection for the safety, serenity and self-contained amenities that gated communities have to offer.
High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) also find these as good investments or attractive places to return to, post-retirement. Reports suggest that 82% of NRI investments are directed towards ready-to-move homes in gated communities.
This demand is being met by a steady supply. A leading management consulting firm has predicted that in the next five years, there will be a minimum of 24 million households living in gated communities and investment in them would rise to $500 billion.
Apart from apartments and villas, these exclusive enclaves may also include swimming pools, gyms, clubhouses, retail centres, restaurants, parks, play spaces and walking tracks that members of that gated community can exclusively enjoy, along with round-the-clock security. Some may even have a school and hospital on campus.
Such high-end facilities, patronised by HNIs, require a heightened level of FM. Along with regular maintenance and common area housekeeping, the service provider also has to provide everything that an urban local body would provide: landscaping, power backup, waste management and more.
Read on to understand just how it is done.
1) India’s luxury home owners want premium FM services
2) How do apps connect HNI homeowners and FM service providers?