“In a city like Mumbai, you probably won’t get an opportunity like this in the next 10 to 20 years,” he said. “To get a two-acre plot in a city like Mumbai is virtually impossible.”
He finished the first negotiations in two to three hours, he said. “I did have a visit, a cursory look around. I didn’t want to get into a bidding war.”
Prices Dropping
The net worth of Indian billionaires continues to grow, and “they want to celebrate their life and financial success,” said Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director for South Asia at Cushman & Wakefield Inc. in Mumbai, whose firm brokered the deal. “Private bungalows are very few and most sought after.”
Adar Poonawalla’s father, Cyrus, is the founder and chairman of Serum Institute. The elder Poonawalla has $8.5 billion in assets, including India’s largest stud farm, making him the country’s 7th richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The purchase of Lincoln House occurs when home prices in Mumbai, India’s most expensive market, are starting to drop. House prices slipped almost 2 percent in the quarter ended June 30 from the record of 13,120 rupees ($198) per square foot set in the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2014, according to research and consulting firm Liases Foras Real Estate Rating & Research Pvt.
Prices may fall as much as 20 percent over the next year as record-high prices dent demand amid a glut of supply, according to Khushru Jijina, managing director at Mumbai-based Piramal Fund Management Pvt., the nation’s largest real estate fund.
Adar Poonawalla isn’t concerned. The property may be worth three to four times his purchase price in 10 years, he said.
“The trend that I have observed in London, New York and Mumbai is that prices for prime properties in prime locations have never seen a dip,” he said. “Even in the worst times of recession there is always a demand and always takers. This was an opportunity which comes once in a lifetime,” Poonawalla said.