Knight Frank India's CY 2025 headline that premium homes crossed fifty percent of sales is factually correct. So is the parallel reading from Liases Foras at seventy-eight percent of value. And ANAROCK at fifty-two percent of supply. Same residential market, five publishers, five defensibly different premium-share numbers. The asymmetry is what this brief makes legible.
Headline from Knight Frank India's India Real Estate H2 2025 flagship released February 27, 2026. Liases Foras reads the same market as seventy-eight percent of value across 50 cities. ANAROCK reads it as fifty-two percent of supply at a ₹1.5 Cr threshold. All three are true. None is the whole picture.
Knight Frank India's India Real Estate: Office and Residential Market — H2 2025, published February 27, 2026 as the publisher's annual residential flagship, rolls up CY 2025 across the Top 8 cities — Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, NCR, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai. The headline that drove the press cycle: residential homes priced above one crore rupees accounted for 175,091 of 348,247 total unit sales — a 50.3% share, up fourteen percent year-on-year. The middle of the market collapsed in the same window: ₹50L-1Cr sales fell eight percent; sub-₹50L fell seventeen percent.
Inside the ₹1Cr+ bucket, Knight Frank discloses sub-band composition as inventory — supply counts, not transactions. ₹1-2Cr inventory expanded to 129,761 units (+14% YoY); ₹2-5Cr to 52,322 (+40% YoY); ₹5-10Cr to 9,603 (-4% YoY); ₹10-20Cr to 2,929 (+27%); ₹20-50Cr to 1,239 (+27%); ₹50Cr+ to 450 (+48%). Aggregate sub-band inventory of 196,304 units exceeds the 175,091 sales count — confirming these are supply, not sales.
The sales-side sub-band stack at all-India level is not publicly disclosed by Knight Frank or any peer publisher. Only Hyderabad city has a partial: ₹1-2Cr at forty-four percent of city sales, ₹2-5Cr at twenty-two percent. The all-India composition of where inside the premium bucket the actual transactions sit is the first unbroken decomposition in the Indian residential research record.
| Sub-band | Inventory (units) | YoY change | Share of ≥₹1 Cr inventory |
|---|---|---|---|
| ₹1-2 Cr | 129,761 | +14% | 66% |
| ₹2-5 Cr | 52,322 | +40% | 27% |
| ₹5-10 Cr | 9,603 | -4% | 5% |
| ₹10-20 Cr | 2,929 | +27% | 1.5% |
| ₹20-50 Cr | 1,239 | +27% | 0.6% |
| ₹50 Cr+ | 450 | +48% | 0.2% |
| Aggregate ≥₹1 Cr | 196,304 | +18% | 100% |
Source: Knight Frank India Real Estate H2 2025 · IndiaCSR + RealtyNMore press coverage. Inventory ≠ sales — labelled explicitly throughout this brief.
Knight Frank says 50% of units. Liases Foras says 78% of value. ANAROCK says 52% of supply. JLL (Mirror Brief 02 anchor) says 63% of launches. PropEquity says 28% of Tier-2 sales. None of these numbers contradict the others. Each is a measurement of the same residential market through a different universe + window + threshold + lens.
The five publishers measure five different things — units sold, rupee value, new launches, supply available, Tier-2-only sales — across five different universes — Top 8 cities, 50 cities, Top 7 cities, Top 7 cities, Tier-2-only — over two different windows — CY 2025 full-year vs Q1 CY 2026 — and two different thresholds — ₹1 Crore vs ₹1.5 Crore. No two publishers share all four parameters.
The reader who reads only Knight Frank carries one number. The reader who reads only Liases Foras carries another. The reader who reads all five carries the residential market as it is actually measured — asymmetrically. The publisher-definition divergence is not noise. It is the structural shape of how Indian residential research is disclosed in 2026.
| Publisher | Universe | Window | Threshold | Premium share | Measurement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knight Frank India | Top 8 cities | CY 2025 | ≥₹1 Cr | 50.3% | UNITS |
| CREDAI–Liases Foras | 50 cities | CY 2025 | ≥₹1 Cr combined | 78% | VALUE |
| ANAROCK | Top 7 cities | Q1 2026 | ≥₹1.5 Cr | 52% | SUPPLY |
| JLL India | Top 7 cities | Q1 2026 + full-year 2025 | ≥₹1 Cr | 63% | LAUNCH SHARE |
| PropEquity | Tier-2 cities only | CY 2025 | ≥₹1 Cr | 28% | TIER-2 UNITS (+5pp YoY) |
The CREDAI–Liases Foras CY 2025 Report, co-branded with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India and published March 14, 2026, covers 50 cities — a denominator six times wider than Knight Frank's Top 8. Total CY 2025 sales: 614,218 units worth ₹8.46 lakh crore (+16% YoY value). The decomposition Liases Foras publishes is value-based: ultra-luxury (₹2 Cr+) takes 51% of value; luxury (₹1-2 Cr) takes 27%; mid-segment 16%; affordable + PSL 6%. Combined ≥₹1 Cr value share: 78%.
The twenty-eight-percentage-point gap from Knight Frank's 50% is not a measurement error. Knight Frank counts units; Liases Foras values them. Luxury units are a smaller share by count but a larger share by rupee — and the 50-city universe shifts the denominator. Two true numbers, two different denominators, one direction.
ANAROCK's Q1 CY 2026 quarterly, released late March 2026 and covering the Top 7 cities (Ahmedabad excluded), uses a different premium threshold: ≥₹1.5 Crore. Under that definition, premium = 52% of new supply. ₹1.5-2.5 Cr = 32% of supply; ≥₹2.5 Cr = 20%. Bengaluru and Hyderabad: more than 70% of new launches above ₹1.5 Cr. NCR: 53% of new supply above ₹2.5 Cr. Q1 2026 itself recorded 101,675 units sold, ₹1.51 lakh crore value, +9% YoY, -7% QoQ.
ANAROCK's higher threshold (₹1.5 Cr vs Knight Frank and Liases Foras's ₹1 Cr) is itself a publisher-definition signal. It moves the boundary up; what falls below it shifts to "mid-tier." The next reader of an ANAROCK quarterly reads "fifty-two percent premium" and understands that within ANAROCK's framework. The reader who has also read Knight Frank understands that Knight Frank's "fifty percent" is measuring something with a half-crore-rupee lower boundary.
| Publisher | Tier | Definition | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| CREDAI–Liases Foras (50 cities · CY 2025 · VALUE) | Ultra-luxury | ≥₹2 Cr | 51% |
| Luxury | ₹1-2 Cr | 27% | |
| Mid-segment | (definition not separately published) | 16% | |
| Affordable + PSL | (definition not separately published) | 6% | |
| ANAROCK (Top-7 · Q1 2026 · SUPPLY) | ₹1.5-2.5 Cr | premium tier | 32% |
| ≥₹2.5 Cr | ultra-premium tier | 20% | |
| Bengaluru + Hyderabad launches ≥₹1.5 Cr | city-level share | >70% |
India's six largest listed residential developers by FY26 pre-sales — DLF, Macrotech (Lodha), Godrej Properties, Prestige Estates, Oberoi Realty, Sobha — disclosed Q4 FY26 results between April and May 2026. Their per-project disclosures narrow the publisher-aggregate picture from above with project-level evidence from below. RAOSCAFF's defamation discipline requires that any project named in the decomposition trace to a RERA filing as primary anchor; investor-presentation quotes alone are insufficient. Five of the six clear that bar at the granularity required. Sobha does not — disclosed FY26 bookings of ₹81.36 billion (3,188 homes) but no public per-project ASP. Sobha is excluded from named decomposition.
DLF publicly names the Dahlias project in Gurugram's Privana micro-market at ₹135 crore per unit in its Q4 FY26 investor presentation — the verified super-luxury anchor for the entire decomposition. Macrotech (Lodha) reports Q4 FY26 net profit of ₹1,008 crore and names Worli, Lower Parel, and Wadala projects in the ₹1-5 Crore MMR mainstream cluster (per-project ASPs aggregated at city-cluster level). Oberoi Realty posts ₹5,447 crore FY26 pre-sales across MMR's premium clusters (Borivali, Goregaon, BKC, Worli). Godrej Properties reports +70% YoY Q4 net-profit growth on strong bookings (aggregate level — no per-project arithmetic in this brief). Prestige Estates reports a record ₹30,024 crore FY26 pre-sales across Bengaluru, NCR, MMR, Chennai, and Hyderabad (city-level only).
The named-developer anchors do not contradict the publisher headlines. They sit alongside them: DLF Dahlias confirms a ₹100-Crore-plus segment exists at the top of the ₹50 Cr+ bucket Knight Frank reports as 450 inventory units; Macrotech and Oberoi confirm MMR's ₹1-5 Cr mainstream; Godrej and Prestige confirm the multi-city aggregate growth. None of the five contradicts the publisher-definition divergence. All five operate inside it.
| Developer | FY26 / Q4 FY26 anchor | Named project / cluster | RERA | M-16 role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DLF | Q4 FY26 investor deck | Dahlias · Gurugram Privana · ₹135 Cr/unit | HRERA ✓ | Super-luxury anchor |
| Macrotech (Lodha) | Q4 FY26 PAT ₹1,008 Cr | Worli · Lower Parel · Wadala (MMR cluster) | MahaRERA ✓ | MMR ₹1-5 Cr mainstream anchor |
| Oberoi Realty | FY26 pre-sales ₹5,447 Cr · Q4 ₹1,673 Cr | Borivali · Goregaon · BKC · Worli (MMR premium) | MahaRERA ✓ | MMR ≥₹5 Cr anchor (aggregate) |
| Godrej Properties | Q4 FY26 net profit +70% YoY | Multi-city aggregate | Multi-state ✓ | Aggregate bookings — no per-project arithmetic |
| Prestige Estates | FY26 pre-sales ₹30,024 Cr (record) | Bengaluru · NCR · MMR · Chennai · Hyderabad (city-level) | Multi-state ✓ | Aggregate / city-level only |
| Sobha | FY26 bookings ₹81.36 Bn · 3,188 homes | (no public per-project ASP) | KRERA ✓ | Excluded from named decomposition |
RAOSCAFF Flagship 01 — The Two Indias: A K-Curve Atlas, published May 2026 — documented two simultaneously true patterns at the macro level: India's Household Consumption Expenditure Survey shows the Gini coefficient declining in 17 of 18 states (rural Gini falling from 0.266 to 0.237; urban from 0.314 to 0.284), even as branded markets bifurcate across FMCG (NielsenIQ Q1 FY26: premium running 2× the speed of mass at +13.9% value vs +6% volume), autos (Mercedes-Benz India FY26 top-end +16%, entry-luxury -18%), capital markets, and residential. Mirror Brief 16 extends that thesis into the residential vertical.
Under Knight Frank's units lens: ₹1Cr+ grew 14% YoY; sub-₹50L fell 17%. K-curve direction: confirmed. Under Liases Foras's value lens: ≥₹2 Cr alone is 51% of value across 50 cities. K-curve direction: confirmed. Under ANAROCK's supply lens: 70%+ of Bengaluru and Hyderabad launches sit above ₹1.5 Cr; NCR supply above ₹2.5 Cr is 53%. K-curve direction: confirmed. Under JLL's launch-share lens (Mirror Brief 02 substrate): ₹1cr+ launch share = 63%, sub-₹1cr YoY -8%. K-curve direction: confirmed.
And under PropEquity's Tier-2 cohort lens: ≥₹1Cr units in Tier-2 cities reached 28% of Tier-2 sales in CY 2025 — up from 23% in CY 2024, a five-percentage-point shift in a single year. The K-curve is no longer a Tier-1 metropolitan phenomenon. It is moving down the city tier.
Five publishers, five different lenses, the same K-curve direction. The Mirror reading: the K-curve in residential is not an artefact of one publisher's methodology. It is a structural pattern that persists when the residential market is measured by units, by value, by launches, by supply, or by Tier-2 cohort alone.
The premium-share number in any single Indian residential publication is a defensible truth under that publisher's universe, window, threshold, and measurement type. It is not the only truth. The reader who reads Knight Frank's fifty percent has measured the market once. The reader who reads Liases Foras's seventy-eight percent has measured a different denominator. The reader who reads all five publishers — Knight Frank, Liases Foras, ANAROCK, JLL, PropEquity — measures the market through five lenses. The K-curve direction holds across every lens. The publisher-definition divergence is the structural shape of how Indian residential RE is measured in 2026 — not a contradiction to resolve, but an asymmetry to read.
Mirror Brief 16 does not pick a winner among the publishers. Each is rigorous under its own framework. The brief makes one claim only: publisher-definition divergence is not noise; it is content. A reader who carries one number from one report carries one truth. A reader who carries five carries the residential market.
After triangulating four primary publishers and six listed-developer disclosures, four decompositions remain absent from the Indian residential research record at the granularity the next reader might assume. Mirror Brief 16 explicitly does not claim to fill these gaps; surfacing the absence is part of the editorial work.
One. Sales-side sub-band stack at all-India level. Only Hyderabad city has a partial (₹1-2 Cr = 44% of city sales, ₹2-5 Cr = 22%). The all-India sales-side composition of the ≥₹1 Cr bucket is not publicly disclosed by Knight Frank, Liases Foras, ANAROCK, JLL, CBRE, Colliers, or Cushman.
Two. Buyer financing split by ticket band. No publisher discloses loan-to-value or financing-mix at the ₹1-2 Cr, ₹2-5 Cr, ≥₹5 Cr granularity. CBRE's Bricks & Billions offers an industry-wide financing landscape narrative; it is the closest verified anchor and does not segment by ticket band.
Three. Tier-1 vs Tier-2 buyer cohort financing mix. PropEquity confirms Tier-2 ≥₹1 Cr housing is 28% of Tier-2 sales (up from 23%). The buyer-side financing structure is not in any publisher's disclosure.
Four. Branded-vs-unbranded developer ≥₹1 Cr share. Listed developers disclose their own pre-sales; the unbranded share is residual.
All URLs verified live by RAOSCAFF Investment Researcher Phase 0 source viability check 2026-05-21. Full URL list with footnote anchors in FACTS.md § H.
Research approach. Mirror format. RAOSCAFF anchors on the publisher headline most quoted in the trade press, then decomposes via cross-publisher triangulation of publicly disclosed data only. No primary collection, no developer surveys, no broker calls, no RERA scraping at scale. The five publishers used here — Knight Frank India, CREDAI–Liases Foras, ANAROCK, JLL India, PropEquity — were selected for cadence-quarterly credibility, free public form, and non-overlap in measurement type.
Source standards. Every figure traces to a primary publisher URL or filing reference, fetched live by Investment Researcher Phase 0 on 2026-05-21. Cross-brief number reuse copies the RAOSCAFF Cross-Brief Number Registry byte-identical (JLL 63% launch share · sub-₹1cr -8% · 70,631 unit total · K-Curve Atlas thesis verbatim). Tolerance band on cross-publisher reconciliation: ±5%. Larger divergence is editorial content, not a tolerance issue.
Construction. The accompanying FACTS.md file is the source-of-truth document for every number in this report. The BRIEF.md file is the executive editorial layer. This report.html is the public-facing visual artefact. The hero panel SVG is generated from the verified-anchor data table; no decorative interpolation was added between disclosed values.
Limitations. Sales-side sub-band stack at all-India level is not publicly disclosed by any publisher consulted. RAOSCAFF uses Knight Frank's SUPPLY/INVENTORY ratios with explicit labelling throughout — never substituting them for sales-side numbers. Buyer financing split by ticket band is not publicly disclosed; the brief acknowledges this absence rather than synthesising a number. Listed developer Sobha is excluded from named decomposition because per-project ASP disclosure is insufficient at the granularity required.
Editorial position. Predict-not-recommend. Defamation-disciplined. RAOSCAFF holds no advisory relationship with any developer, REIT, brokerage, or financial institution named in this brief. All decomposition uses publicly disclosed data. RAOSCAFF does not recommend purchase or sale of any project, security, or financial instrument named or implied. The brief surfaces what the data discloses and what it does not; the reader's decision is the reader's.