India’s Middle Class Is Buying Liabilities, Not Wealth, Warns Real Estate Advisor
India’s Middle Class Is Buying Liabilities, Not Wealth, Warns Real Estate Advisor
Wealth grows through strategy, not sentiment, says Kapoor, urging homebuyers to rethink property investments.
India’s booming real estate market is drawing millions from the middle class—but according to real estate advisor Aishwarya Shri Kapoor, most of these buyers are making a critical mistake: they’re purchasing liabilities, not wealth-building assets.
“Most Indian homebuyers aren’t building wealth. They’re buying liabilities,” Kapoor wrote in a recent post, challenging the deeply rooted belief that home ownership is the ultimate financial milestone.
Kapoor, a Delhi-based advisor known for guiding high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), dissects the hidden costs behind a ₹2 crore property. “Stamp duty, GST, registration fees, and pre-EMIs often cross ₹50 lakh. That’s capital locked without return until appreciation kicks in—and that can take years,” she warned. “Possession doesn’t equal progress. Ownership isn’t outcome.”
She emphasizes that the property market rewards velocity, not emotion, and that the wealthiest investors rarely wait for project handovers. “The wealthy don’t wait. They rotate capital,” Kapoor said.
To illustrate how India’s top 5% grow wealth through real estate, Kapoor shared her “Value Migration Model”—a four-step framework used to accelerate returns:
- Enter Early – Invest during the project’s launch phase when prices are around ₹12,000–₹14,000 per square foot.
- Exit Fast – Sell once prices rise to ₹18,000–₹20,000 before the market saturates.
- Reinvest Smart – Move the gains into leased commercial assets, branded residences, or structured floor properties.
- Repeat – Keep rotating every 2–3 years to maintain internal rates of return (IRR) above 25%.
Kapoor cited early investors in DLF projects as proof: “They booked profits of ₹3–4 crore before even taking possession. Those who entered later are still stuck. Same project. Different capital IQ.”
The core issue, she says, lies in mindset. “The middle class buys for emotion. The wealthy buy for timing, exit, and rotation,” she wrote. According to Kapoor, without a resale or reinvestment plan, even a ₹2 crore apartment can become “dead capital.”
Kapoor concluded with a strong reminder: “India’s real estate doesn’t reward ownership. It rewards velocity.” She noted that smart investors have grown portfolios from ₹60 lakh to ₹5 crore in a decade not by luck, but by engineering strategic exits and reinvestments.
Her message to the middle class is clear: rethink your strategy, or risk being left behind in a market that favors speed and structure over sentiment.
