Luxury Real Estate Booms while Affordable Housing Crumbles
Noida housing society (Image social media)
With average 2BHK flats now priced over ₹1 crore in Noida and Greater Noida, the middle class is being pushed toward alternate options, sparking fears of a new urban crisis.
By KUMAR VIKRAM
NEW DELHI, June 8, 2025 — A disturbing trend is unfolding in the Delhi-NCR real estate landscape — as luxury housing projects surge ahead with record-breaking sales, the affordable housing segment is rapidly shrinking, leaving a vast section of homebuyers with no viable options.
The fallout? A silent but massive shift toward unregulated, low-quality builder flats — what some experts are now calling the “urban slums of the future.”
In Noida, Greater Noida, and Gurugram, the price of a typical 2BHK apartment has now crossed ₹1 crore — a figure that was, until recently, associated with high-end housing. For middle-class families looking to purchase a home under or around ₹1 crore, the options in organized and approved societies have nearly disappeared.
Meanwhile, luxury projects are not just surviving — they’re thriving. Take for instance DLF’s The Dahlias in Gurugram — an ultra-luxury residential offering priced between ₹35 crore and ₹60 crore per unit.
The project sold over 170 units in just 9 weeks, highlighting the increasing appetite for high-end real estate among ‘High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs)’ and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
As luxury towers rise, affordable housing has virtually stalled. The gap between demand and supply is forcing the middle class to turn toward unauthorized builder flats that are rapidly mushrooming in the outer zones of Greater Noida West, parts of Noida, and beyond.
These builder flats — often built on individual plots that do not belong to Noida or Greater Noida authorities — typically comprise 3-4 floors, feature smaller units, and offer little to no amenities. More worryingly, many of these structures are built in violation of safety norms, building codes, and zoning regulations.
Actually, these are not affordable homes. These are like unregulated vertical slums,” said a local architect familiar with ongoing construction trends in the region. “The build quality is poor, there’s no proper fire safety, and most of them have no official sanction from the development authorities,” he added.
Such construction is laying the foundation for an urban crisis. Without intervention from planning bodies and the government, a large chunk of the urban population may end up living in unsafe, and unsanitary housing — all while luxury real estate continues to flourish.
India’s goal of “Housing for All” is under serious threat if affordability continues to be sidelined. As cities grow, the real question is — who are we building them for?
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