FOUR WAYS AI IS SHAPING HOW THE RICH BUY, LIVE AND INVEST IN LUXURY REAL ESTATE

India is witnessing a meaningful shift in its wealth landscape. The Hurun India Rich List 2025 shows that the country is now home to over 350 billionaires with a combined wealth of nearly $2 trillion, almost half of India’s gross domestic product.

What stands out is not just the scale of wealth, but how it is being created. According to Prime Database, 103 Indian corporates raised a record high Rs.1.76 lakh crore through initial public offers (IPOs) in 2025, making it the highest amount ever mobilised in a single year. IPOs, startup exits and intergenerational transitions are producing a younger, tech-savvy cohort of wealth creators.

Unsurprisingly, this new wealth is reshaping expectations in luxury real estate. As technology creates wealth, it is also shaping aspirations. Today’s tech founders and digitalnative wealth creators are not merely purchasing homes; they are seeking intelligent, connected living environments that reflect innovation and efficiency that also define them.

While prime markets such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru continue to dominate high-end sales, the lens through which ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNI) evaluate homes is widening. For a generation that has built businesses on data, automation and scale, a tech-integrated home is no longer a differentiator but a baseline expectation. For India’s new wealthy, luxury isn’t just built in concrete anymore; it’s built in code.

Personalising luxury home search

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing how luxury homes are discovered and shortlisted. Instead of buyers sifting through listings, AI-powered platforms learn their preferences— location, budget, and lifestyle priorities— based on searches and browsing data, and suggest closely matched properties in real time. According to global IT solutions firm PrimoTech, such tools can improve buyer relevance and engagement by 40-50%.

AI is also helping buyers evaluate deals better. By crunching historical price data, upcoming infrastructure developments, and neighbourhood trends, these tools offer insights into whether a property carries risk or is likely to appreciate. At the same time, routine tasks such as scheduling site visits, qualifying leads, and processing paperwork are being automated, freeing advisers to focus on what matters most: personalised counsel, strategy, and trust-building.

Where luxury meets convenience

Once considered futuristic indulgences, smart homes are fast becoming standard expectations in India’s premium and luxury developments. Advances in internet of things (IoT) technology have turned residences into responsive living spaces, where lighting, climate, security and energy use adjust intuitively to daily routines.

Buyer sentiment reflects this shift, with security and privacy among the strongest drivers. As per the 2025 Luxury Outlook report by Sotheby’s International Realty, 81% of discerning homebuyers consider these factors critical, making tech-enabled security a non-negotiable in luxury housing. Across Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru, features like smart locks, biometric access, remote surveillance, and app-based controls are sought after, especially by globally mobile UHNIs.

Energy-optimising systems that learn usage patterns are also gaining ground, aligning with sustainability goals while improving operational efficiency. Many premium projects in India’s three major metros already reflect the growing demand for smart homes.

Smart living is also expanding beyond convenience to wellness. In pollution-prone cities, automated air purification, smart ventilation, and water-quality monitoring systems are increasingly valued. Predictive maintenance, enabled by sensors embedded across key systems, further enhances the ownership experience by flagging issues before they escalate.

Smart homes are proving to be more than lifestyle upgrades. From an investment perspective, they are emerging as value multipliers. Tech-enabled residences often command higher resale premiums, attract higher-quality tenants and have shorter vacancy cycles, reinforcing their appeal as future-ready assets.

Redefining property lifecycle

While smart homes enhance the living experience, proptech—i.e. property technology, an umbrella term for digital tools and platforms transforming how real estate is bought, sold, and managed—is redefining the buying experience. TechSci Research estimated India’s proptech market value at $1.66 billion in 2025, and projected it to reach $4.29 billion by 2031.

Virtual tours, immersive walkthroughs, and remote customisation tools now allow buyers to explore properties from anywhere in the world with remarkable accuracy. For international buyers and time-constrained UHNIs, the ability to evaluate, shortlist and even personalise homes remotely has become a powerful decision enabler. Blockchain and digital documentation platforms are still in early stages in India’s real estate ecosystem, but their long-term impact could be transformative. Secure, tamper-proof records, faster verification, smart contracts, and endto-end digital workflows have the potential to reduce friction, improve transparency and accelerate transactions while preserving the bespoke nature of luxury advisory.

Technology, but with balance

That said, technology adoption is not without its challenges. High levels of integration often come with high upfront costs and ongoing upgrade requirements. Rapid innovation can also lead to quicker obsolescence if systems are not future-proofed. Interoperability remains a concern, as multiple smart systems do not always integrate seamlessly, which can affect the user experience.

Cybersecurity is equally critical. As homes become more connected, safeguarding sensitive data and device networks is paramount. And while proptech streamlines processes, it does not replace the human element. For UHNIs making high-stakes decisions, trust, market intuition and personalised negotiation remain indispensable. Technology enhances insight and efficiency, but it is human expertise that ultimately anchors confidence and closes the deal.

In India’s evolving wealth landscape, the smartest homes will also be the most valuable. As AI, smart living and proptech reshape luxury real estate, the true differentiator will be homes that blend innovation with integrity and technology with human expertise. Over the next decade, luxury will be defined not just by what a home offers, but by how intelligently, securely and enduringly it serves those who live in it.

The Author is Managing Director, India Sotheby's International Realty