Luxury housing just got more exclusive in the city of bankrupt Nizams and nawabs of IT, with Omega Shelters planning homes which will be priced at Rs 12 crores. Yes, you got that right: a 12 followed by seven zeros.

That will be the higher end of the price band, and you can own one, if your change doesn't add up, for Rs four crores. The project is coming up in Kompally, home to the some of the city's nouveau riche.

What would the potential buyer of the villa get for Rs 12 crores? According to Mahabir Prasad Agarwall, promoter of Omega Shelters, the villas would be spread over 4,000 feet, the least inexpensive ones in the project, to 16,000 sq. feet. Now, here's where it gets interesting: The 16,000 sq. feet house will have a nice spread of 1.3-acres of lawn.

The Urban Land Ceiling Act, the bane of real estate development in Andhra Pradesh, will not be applicable in Kompally, because it is a gram panchayat, Mr Agarwall, one of the biggest builders in the twin cities, says.

With the Rs 12 crore price tag per villa, Hyderabad appears to have shot past the price
of Rs 10 crores for a villa in Mumbai and the Rs three crores for an apartment in Bangalore, developed by the Mantri group.

The list price of such villas may sound absurd, but according to a survey of 20,000 homes conducted in Hyderabad by Asipac Project Consultants, 200 people bought the idea of owning a house that costs above Rs three crore.

"A crore can no longer buy anyone a premium product. In Bangalore anything above Rs 1.5 crores and in Hyderabad Rs 1.25 crores plus is premium," explains Amit Bagaria, CEO of the Bangalore-based Asipac, which is advising Omega Shelters.

Will there be a demand for such houses? Mr Bagaria believes there will be. "In Bangalore, 45,000 new homes are added every year. For Chennai it is 20,000 and 18,000 new homes are built annually in Hyderabad. A good six per cent of this market is in the premium segment," he says.

Agreeing with Mr Bagaria, Vikram Agnihotri, regional director of real estate consultants TrammellCrow Meghraj says, "It is just a matter of time before the premium segment of housing takes off. This segment is not affected by the vagaries of the real estate market conditions because the supply is always limited." Mr Agnihotri is advising three developers for projects with villas valued at Rs 4 crore in Hyderabad.

The big-ticket villa project is not the only one being handled by Asipac in Hyderabad. Mr Bagaria says Asipac is assisting projects here with apartments and villas priced between Rs 1.75 crores to Rs 15 crores. Out of this, three are in the premium segment and landscaping and water works have begun with work slated to kick-off in December and end 14-15 months later. Interestingly, Mr Bagaria claimed seven bookings have been already been made for the villas.