Branded residences follow the money

Between 2021 and 2026, the global population of UHNWIs (those worth more than US$30 million) rose from 551,435 to 713,626. That equates to 162,191 new UHNWIs in just five years – or 89 people, somewhere in the world, crossing the US$30 million threshold every single day- see p.8 of The Wealth Report 2026.

Hotel groups and lifestyle brands have been following the money, opening branded residential projects in rising wealth hubs to successfully counter slowing growth in many of the world's established luxury markets.

India is a good example. A new Trump Tower 450-unit branded residence project in the southern India city of Hyderabad is set to generate US$367 million in sales, the Trump Organization's development partner Tribeca Developers told Bloomberg yesterday. We make this the Trump Organization's fifth project in a country set to mint another 5,340 UHNWIs between now and 2031, expanding the population by 27% to 25,217. 

Frontier markets

Unlike Europe and the US, where the hotel brands tend to reign supreme, India's branded residential market is led by the lifestyle brands. The most prominent upcoming projects have come from Tonino Lamborghini, fashion designer Elie Saab, New York luxury watch maker Jacob & Co and the Trump Organization – all in Gurugram and Noida. 

A prestigious address and distinctive interior design take precedence over the wellness facilities that are now considered essentials in Europe and America. Hotel brands do have a presence, most notably Four Seasons, which completed schemes in Bengaluru and Mumbai in 2021 and 2025 respectively. But they remain rare.

Hospitality brands have instead tended to focus on established wealth hubs or frontier resort markets that cater to a more international pool of buyers. Global wealth is increasingly mobile, and its owners are now just as likely to be found surfing in Fiji as cruising the Mediterranean on a yacht.

InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns the Six Senses brand, hailed the growth of the branded residences sector in its half-year results yesterday. The group has 35 branded residential projects open or selling across 19 countries, "with additional opportunities in the pipeline". Hotel developers, the company said, are pursuing mixed-use developments that incorporate a residential component, and its brands are also seeing growing interest for use in residential-only developments. Indeed, hotel-branded projects without the hotel are likely to become a much larger share of the market in key European cities, where a lack of large sites is a key constraint.

A rising hotspot

InterContinental Hotels said it earned fees from sales of branded residences at Six Senses Dubai Marina during the first half of the year, "building on the success of the previously fully sold development at Six Senses The Palm, Dubai, and from the sale of further units at locations such as InterContinental Halong Bay." The Regent Ho Tram in Vietnam is among its key new signings so far this year, and fee growth from branded residences "is expected to be more substantial" in 2027 and beyond.

Indeed, Vietnam is a rising hotspot for branded residences. Restrictions on foreign ownership of property were eased in 2015 and branded residences arrived in 2021 via Marriott and The Ritz-Carlton. Luxury supply above US$4,000 per square meter (US$370 per sq ft) has expanded rapidly, while a limited group of branded and trophy developments has established an ultra-luxury tier above US$10,000 per sq m. Hanoi Signature by Swiss-Belhotel, among the most prominent new projects, has an average asking price of US$8,200 per sq m. 

There is much more to come. Next month, we publish The Residence Report 2026, taking a deeper look at how these shifts are playing out across the world's key markets. We'll explore the changing geography of wealth, the different preferences of buyers from India to the US and Europe, and the hotel and lifestyle brands competing for their attention. We'll also take a closer look at the schemes breaking new ground – from established wealth hubs to the frontier resort markets where the next phase of growth is already taking shape. You can the most recent edition here.

A helping hand

Bellway became the latest housebuilder to call on the government to do more to increase housebuilding yesterday, following a similar request from Taylor Wimpey last week.

"We call on the Government to act now to improve access to housing across all tenures, both by helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder and supporting the delivery of affordable and social housing for those who need it most," chief executive Jason Honeyman said in a trading update. "In order to ease affordability constraints and stimulate demand, an immediate reduction in Stamp Duty alongside a Government-backed deposit support scheme for first-time buyers would both drive economic growth and accelerate the delivery of much-needed new homes across the country."

Our quarterly survey of more than 35 small and volume housebuilders, released last week, points to further declines in housing delivery in the months ahead. Eight-in-ten developers said site visits and reservations declined during Q2, and nearly six-in-ten expect reservation volumes to underperform in 2026 compared to a year earlier. As a result, a little under half expect start volumes to decline further in Q3, with the same proportion expecting no change. About 60% expect land values to fall further, while the remaining 40% expect the land market to trade flat.

In other news...

The prime London property market is having a better summer than it did in 2025, but that’s not a particularly high bar, writes Tom Bill. Meanwhile, the Renter’s Right Act is still proving largely counterproductive.

We've also got new data on seniors and student housing, and Stephem Springham has just published the 2026 edition of Retail Renaissance. Read it here.