Industry data show that developers launched over 90,000 housing units across India’s top seven cities in Q1 2026, up 13% year-on-year, a supply skew increasingly toward premium, lifestyle-led projects as buyers prioritise amenities and community over simply owning a property.
A decade ago, the home-buying criteria in India were simple: location, size and price. But, today, prospective buyers evaluate clubhouses, jogging tracks, co-working spaces, landscaped areas and whether there is retail within the project. Amenities are no longer an afterthought. They are now a key reason people choose one project over another. The idea of “home” has expanded. It is now expected to enable work, wellness, social engagement and rest.
With months spent living entirely within residential complexes, people started valuing open spaces and shared facilities as much as layouts and finishes. Recognising this shift, developers have moved away from treating amenities as add-ons. They are now built into the master plan from day one.
Congestion, family needs and the convenience factor
Rising urban congestion has played a significant role. As commutes get longer and city infrastructure struggles to keep up, people want more available within their own communities. Well-planned green spaces and recreation areas offer a daily sense of balance that the wider city often cannot provide. Family structures are also shaping this shift. Multi-generational households remain common in India, which means a single project has to work for children, working professionals and senior citizens at the same time. In response, developers are moving away from generic common areas and creating dedicated play zones, senior citizen areas, and fitness spaces designed for specific age groups. Convenience plays a role too. While proximity to schools, hospitals, and workplaces continues to matter, buyers now expect daily-needs retail within or near the community as well. Having groceries, cafés, pharmacies and essential services on-site reduces the need to travel across the city for everyday tasks and adds to the overall ease of living.
Buyer demand in 2026 has shifted from long amenity checklists to a shorter list of genuinely usable spaces: clubhouses, EV charging points, and wellness floors now rank among the features that most influence shortlisting decisions.
Amenities as a value driver
Amenities are not only a lifestyle feature. They impact resale and rental value. Projects with well-maintained community infrastructure hold value better and attract consistent buyer and tenant interest. Sustainability has become part of this as well. Rainwater harvesting, solar power and structured waste management are no longer add-ons. Green certifications from bodies like IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) matter to buyers, both for environmental reasons and for long-term savings on utilities.
Features such as 24/7 security, backup power and water, and well-maintained green spaces are known to raise resale value by 10-15%..On the sustainability side, IGBC has now registered more than 19,000 projects covering over 15.74 billion sq ft nationally, making India the world’s second-largest green building footprint after the US. Developers are now building for interaction, not just for housing. Clubhouses are being designed to double as event spaces. Gardens are planned as places where people actually meet. Retail streets are being built into projects to give them the feel of a real neighborhood. This matters most in new growth corridors and satellite towns, where many residents are starting from zero and building a social network from scratch. In those locations, a sense of community is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a real asset.
The corridor shift: Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad
We are seeing this clearly in Bengaluru’s outer zones, parts of Chennai, and Hyderabad’s peripheral belts. As employment centers move outward, housing is following. In these markets, competition is no longer just on price per square foot. It’s on the quality of the living experience. Bengaluru’s Peripheral Ring Road (now the Bengaluru Business Corridor) received environmental clearance in April 2026 and is drawing residential activity to Yelahanka, Sarjapur, and Kanakapura, while Hyderabad’s ORR-linked corridors such as Kokapet and Bachupally are seeing similar outward growth.
The market is moving toward communities that combine thoughtful design, environmental responsibility and genuine spaces for people to connect. As India’s urban population grows, amenity-led communities will move from being a differentiator to the default. The projects that get this right will be the ones that define the next decade of residential real estate.
Mahendra Nagaraj
Managing Director, M5 Mahendra Group
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Square Yards.
