This is a very interesting topic, categorizing of apartments in Sri Lanka. The best way to categorize them is to gauge the project and the amenities. The price also is an indicator but in most cases it’s the space and the size of the project. When it comes to the categorization of the apartments, we at Mister T categorize them in the following way and so it has worked for us:
Super Luxury
These are the high end apartments that carry price tags of 30 million and upwards, there are apartments up to 180 million and so on. Examples, Crescat, Monarch, Iceland, Emperor, Havelock City, on320, Iconic, Royal Park, Trillium Residencies, Altair (Under construction) Destiny (Under construction) These are within the city and could be rented from anything between USD 1500 to USD 4000.
In terms of facilities, they have everything. Convenience and comfort coupled together.
Luxury Apartments & Semi-luxury Apartments
Then we have these apartments which are just stand alone buildings,they have the basic interior inside and a pool, gym and rooftop. Some don’t have the pool and gym like the Queen’s Court, Prince Alfred Tower, St. James, St. Micheal’s but are big in size and in prime location such as Colombo 03. These are mostly priced at around 25 million and above. The majority of expats try to rent out these kinds of apartments. Apartment complexes such Lumiere, Spathodea, Seagull (They have 40 + buildings but not well maintained), Suncity etc. You can find many like these.
These could be rented out at around Rs. 120,000 – Rs.130,000 per month. Closest you can probably get to 6% p.a.
Normal/Basic Apartments
These hardly have any facilities and are relatively cheaper. Starting at around Rs. 18 million and going up to about 25 million depending on the location, most of the apartments in Colombo 06 could be found at this price. The old ones are a no go as they have issues with title deeds and certificate of conformity (COC) etc. There are new ones coming but they get sold soon and could be rented for Rs. 100, 000 or less. Some examples would be Falcon Residencies, Carlton Residencies, Unity Residencies, Majestic Apartments, New Frontier etc. It’s a little risky to buy the new ones as the construction could be questioned and the class of people living in them can make the building go to the dogs in terms of maintenance.
Of course there are shoddy ones too that are just built purely for profit making purposes, I have not mentioned anything about them. Also a note on the security factor as that is the first thing any occupant would look at, the super luxury and luxury apartments generally have a property security fir/system with guards properly trained and dressed in the usual uniform, normal apartments mostly do not hire the firms as the management fee is kept at a low price.
Management Fee / Maintenance Fee / Body Corporate Fee of Apartments
This a fee that is paid to run the daily operations and in most instances is divided with the number of apartment units in the building / the number of square fee in an apartment. For example: Rs. 12 per square foot, so if your apartment is a 2/3/4 bedroom, the number of square feet is multiplied by 12 and a figure is arrived at.
Super Luxury – Very High – Can go up to 30,000 to 80,000 per month
Luxury – Mostly is around Rs. 15 per sqft. So in most cases, it is less than 20,000 per month unless you buy a really big apartment.
Normal – Mostly less than 10,000, Suncity needs to be mentioned in this. It comes under Luxury Apartments but management fee is very low and is maintained well.
A note on Sinking Fund
It’s very important to check if there is a sinking fund or not. This is mainly provision for major repairs, replacements in along the lines of common elements such as the exterior of the building requiring a paint job or the tiles in the pool to be replaced or gym machines to be changed etc.
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