A brand on the door, and a licence with an end date

Savills counted about 910 branded residence schemes worldwide by the end of 2025, up 19 per cent in a year, with 1,747 projected by 2032 across more than ninety countries. It puts the average premium over comparable non branded stock at 33 per cent globally, 30 per cent in urban markets and 39 per cent in resort markets. India now sits in the global top ten by project count, with Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Bengaluru as its leading markets.

The India numbers come from NOESIS Hotel Advisors rather than any of the international houses, which is worth knowing when you are quoted them. Their 2025 study counted 34 operational and planned schemes across eight cities, with Delhi NCR the largest at seven schemes and roughly 2,500 units. Their updated map, presented in August 2026, counts 43 directly brand licensed projects: seven delivered, nineteen under construction, seventeen announced, with a combined gross development value of about Rs 1 lakh crore, and more than twenty further projects in early feasibility or brand selection.

India diverges from the global pattern in one interesting way. Worldwide, hotel brands account for about 79 per cent of completed branded residences. In India non hotel brands account for roughly 75 per cent, and YOO is the most active single brand. NCR pricing for branded stock is put at around Rs 80,000 per sq ft against about Rs 1.2 lakh in Mumbai.

The local benchmark is Trump Residences Gurugram in Sector 69, where all 298 apartments sold on launch day, 13 May 2025, for Rs 3,250 crore of bookings at around Rs 27,000 per sq ft, including Rs 125 crore of penthouses on day one. Two fifty one storey towers and about 12 lakh sq ft saleable, developed by Smartworld with Tribeca handling design, marketing and sales under licence. It is the sixth Trump branded project in India and the second in Gurugram.

Now the part that does not appear in a brochure. Your ownership of the apartment is perpetual. The branding agreement is not. A March 2026 note by ArentFox Schiff calls this a critical structural risk: when a management agreement expires, the brand associated with a residence may change, which affects both value and what the buyer thought they were buying. The operator running the building today may not be there indefinitely, and the premium you paid was priced on the assumption that it would be.

Three things follow, and they are all in the documents rather than the show flat. First, service charges. Beyond the price you carry ongoing fees for brand affiliated services, including the cost of maintaining amenities shared with hotel guests, and brand mandated design standards. Increases are hard to impose once set, which means the initial modelling is the pressure point. Second, governance. Once control of the owners association passes to residents, the association may be able to terminate or modify the brand agreement, dissolving the premium that justified the price. Protective voting thresholds belong in the governing documents. Third, disclosure. Licensing fees are generally disclosed at sale; other recurring costs are not, and that asymmetry is where the surprises live.

One number to hold in mind. The 33 per cent premium Savills measures is measured at first sale. No source we could find measures resale performance of Indian branded residences after a brand has changed or exited, because with seven delivered projects nationally the segment is too young to have produced a case study. Nor could we find a published India specific premium figure, or a typical licence duration or fee structure for Indian deals. If someone quotes you one, ask where it comes from.

None of which is an argument against buying one. A well run branded building delivers service most Indian condominiums cannot, and for an owner who is abroad half the year that is worth paying for. It is an argument for reading the licensing agreement, the term, the renewal mechanics and the service charge model before you read the price list. We ask for those four documents on every branded purchase we advise on, and we have walked clients away from two where they were not forthcoming.