Elegance Tower Office for Sale, Jasola New Delhi

Office space for sale in Elegance Tower, Jasola is quoted at Rs 21,000 to Rs 22,000 per sq ft, and the same building lets at Rs 95 to Rs 110 per sq ft a month. Those two numbers agree with each other — a gross yield of about 5.2 to 6.3 per cent, which is exactly where a prime Delhi commercial asset should sit. After a long run of buildings whose asking prices had lost contact with their rents, this one is honestly priced.

The thing worth your attention here is not the price. It is the Rs 14.60 per sq ft a month of maintenance sitting underneath it, which almost nobody quotes and which changes both sides of the transaction.

The yield, done properly

A rental yield in the 5 to 6 percent band is what a prime Delhi asset is meant to look like. Delhi NCR commercial property broadly yields 6 to 10 per cent, with the tightest prime districts compressing to 5 or 6. Elegance Tower lands in that compressed band, which is what a Grade A district centre address half a kilometre from a metro station ought to do. Nothing here needs explaining away.

Placed on the wider ladder this site has built from its own research, Jasola is the value end of the serious Delhi market. The same developer's ABW Rectangle One at Saket lets at Rs 125 to Rs 170. Vasant Kunj mall office space is quoted around Rs 120. Aerocity asks Rs 245 for warm shell. At Rs 95 to Rs 110, Jasola gives you a genuine Grade A district centre at roughly two-thirds of Saket.

The maintenance charge, and why it matters twice

One published letting here is precise in a way listings rarely are: a 1,713 sq ft furnished suite on the third floor at Rs 110 per sq ft a month plus GST, with maintenance at Rs 14.60 per sq ft a month plus GST.

If you are the tenant, your actual occupancy cost is Rs 124.60 per sq ft a month, not Rs 110. That is 13 per cent more than the number in the advertisement. Every Jasola quote you compare against another building is understated by roughly that much unless you have asked. On 1,713 sq ft it is the difference between Rs 1.88 lakh and Rs 2.14 lakh a month — Rs 3 lakh a year.

If you are the buyer, the maintenance is what an empty unit costs you. Rs 14.60 a month is Rs 175 per sq ft a year, and on a Rs 21,000 purchase that is 0.83 per cent of your capital burnt for every year the unit stands vacant — before any lost rent at all. A 6.3 per cent yield with three months of void and its maintenance is nearer 4.5 per cent in the year it happens.

So the question to ask before you buy here is not what the rent is. It is how quickly this specific floor lets, and what the building's current vacancy actually looks like. Walk the floors.

The building

Elegance Tower is properly ABW Elegance Tower, built by ABW Infrastructure Ltd — the ABW Group, promoted by Atul Bansal and established in 1988, the same house that built Rectangle One at Saket and ABW Tower on MG Road in Gurugram.

• Land area about 4,110 sq metres, with a total built-up area of roughly 1,92,000 sq ft.
• Ground plus six floors, over basement parking recorded as two levels on one source and three on another.
• Completed in 2007, so a building of some nineteen years — mature Grade A rather than current-generation.
• Jasola Apollo metro within about half a kilometre, on the magenta line.
• Professionally managed, 24-hour security, and the Grade A services the rate implies.

On unit sizes the sources disagree and the disagreement is worth noting. One gives 1,000 to 50,000 sq ft, another 1,500 to 25,000, and a live listing shows 3,437 sq ft. A 50,000 sq ft unit would be about a quarter of the entire building, which is possible but sits at the outer edge of what this tower can offer. If you are told a large contiguous block is available, ask which floors it spans before you plan around it.

Where Jasola sits, and what it is for

Jasola District Centre is South Delhi's working commercial address rather than its prestige one. It is on the magenta line, close to the Delhi-Faridabad corridor, and it holds a dense cluster of Grade A towers — DLF Towers, Salcon Aurum and this one among them — let mostly to professional firms, financial services and corporate back offices.

The contrast with Gurugram is instructive. A strata building at Sikanderpur, DLF City Court, is asked at up to Rs 34,400 per sq ft while letting at Rs 60 to Rs 65 a month — a 2.1 per cent yield. Jasola's price and rent agree with each other, which is the whole difference between the two.

That density is a double-edged thing for an owner. It means your tenant has real alternatives within a five-minute walk, which caps what you can push the rent to. It also means the district has depth: a vacating tenant is replaced from a pool that already wants to be in Jasola, rather than having to be persuaded into it. On balance it is why the rents here are stable and unspectacular, which is a perfectly good thing for a yield asset to be.

What to establish before you buy

1. The current maintenance charge in writing — Rs 14.60 per sq ft a month is the published figure, and it is the number that decides your net.
2. The actual lease, if it is sold pre-leased. Tenant, rent, remaining term, escalation, lock-in and deposit, read against a bank statement.
3. Floor and orientation. The published range of Rs 95 to Rs 110 is a fifteen per cent spread within one building, and it is decided by floor, view and finish.
4. The building's vacancy today. At Rs 175 per sq ft a year of maintenance, a slow letting is expensive in a way the yield table does not show.
5. What a furnished quote includes, and whether the fit-out survives the first re-letting or is written off with it.
6. Whether the car parking is allotted to the unit or to the building. In a G+6 tower over basements, parking is a real part of what a tenant is paying for.

Frequently asked questions

What does office space cost in Elegance Tower, Jasola?

About Rs 21,000 to Rs 22,000 per sq ft to buy. The same building lets at Rs 95 to Rs 110 per sq ft a month, which puts the gross yield at roughly 5.2 to 6.3 per cent — squarely where a prime Delhi commercial asset should sit. This is one of the few buildings in this research where the asking price and the achievable rent describe the same asset.

What are the maintenance charges, and do they change the maths?

Maintenance charges here are Rs 14.60 per sq ft a month plus GST, on a published letting of a 1,713 sq ft third-floor suite at Rs 110. For a tenant that makes the real cost Rs 124.60, about 13 per cent more than the advertised rent. For a buyer it is Rs 175 per sq ft a year, which is about 0.83 per cent of a Rs 21,000 capital value for every year the unit sits empty, before any lost rent. It is the most important number on this page and almost no listing quotes it.

Who is the builder of Elegance Tower?

ABW Infrastructure Ltd, part of the ABW Group promoted by Atul Bansal and established in 1988 — the same developer behind ABW Rectangle One at Saket and ABW Tower on MG Road in Gurugram. The building is properly named ABW Elegance Tower and was completed in 2007, on a site of about 4,110 sq metres with roughly 1,92,000 sq ft built up over ground plus six floors.

Jasola vs Saket vs Aerocity: how does the comparison work out?

It is the value end of the serious Delhi commercial market. The same developer's Rectangle One at Saket lets at Rs 125 to Rs 170 per sq ft a month, Vasant Kunj mall office space is quoted around Rs 120, and Aerocity asks about Rs 245 for warm shell. Jasola at Rs 95 to Rs 110 gives you a genuine Grade A district centre address at roughly two-thirds of Saket, on the magenta line.

What sizes are available?

The sources disagree. One gives 1,000 to 50,000 sq ft, another 1,500 to 25,000, and a live listing shows 3,437 sq ft. Since the whole building is about 1,92,000 sq ft over ground plus six floors, a 50,000 sq ft block would be roughly a quarter of it — possible, but at the outer edge. If you are offered a large contiguous area, ask which floors it spans before you plan a fit-out around it.

Is the dense cluster of towers in Jasola good or bad for an investment here?

Both, and on balance good for a yield investment. Competing Grade A towers within a five-minute walk cap what you can push the rent to, which is why Jasola rents are stable rather than spectacular. But the same density gives the district depth: a tenant who leaves is replaced from a pool that already wants to be in Jasola, rather than one that has to be talked into the location. For a yield asset, predictable beats exciting.