It wouldn’t be wrong to say that penthouses reflect ultimate luxury living. With ample outdoor and indoor space coupled with utmost privacy, these units are considered as the best (read: poshest) places to reside in a high-rise development.
To answer the question ‘why are penthouses so expensive?’, consider the exclusivity and the luxury they offer. Penthouses are understandably more expensive than regular apartments owing to this fact. Are you planning to invest in high-rise properties but not sure if it’s for you? Or are you pondering over if penthouses are a good investment opportunity? Don’t worry, just have a look at our list of pros and cons of living in a penthouse and make an informed decision.
Pros and Cons of Living in a Penthouse
In order to cater the housing shortage in Pakistan, developers have started moving from horizontal expansion to high-rise buildings over the past decade. This has led to the emergence of many apartment complexes, especially those offering penthouse apartments, in major cities like Lahore and Karachi. Plus, penthouse suites have become one of the ultimate must-haves for a high-end apartment project.
While it’s not exactly difficult to find and buy penthouse apartments, please remember that there are both advantages and disadvantages of living in a penthouse. It’s always a good idea to weigh both aspects and avoid making hasty decisions. Our list of pros and cons of living in a penthouse will definitely help you in this regard.
Let’s begin!
Pros of penthouses:
- Soothing views and outdoor spaces
- Peace and tranquillity
- Silent and private living
- Central locality
- Safety and security
- Status symbol
- Recession-proof investment
Soothing Views and Outdoor Spaces
Residents enjoy a house with ample natural light and ventilation. Be it for hosting get-togethers or family events, penthouse floors come with grand outdoor spaces. This feature is an additional benefit of living in a high-rise building that also offers amazing and unobstructed views. Located on the top floors of these tall buildings, high-end penthouses usually offer the dwellers a chance of keeping their sanity in check with unadulterated beautiful views to sooth your soul, which even your neighbours can not infringe upon – making living in a penthouse ‘worth it’.
Peace and Tranquillity
Strategically located high above the city’s hustle-and-bustle, high-end penthouses are usually well away from the loudness of traffic and other city noises you might experience in apartment living. Plus, since these units span an entire floor or half a floor, you don’t have to live close to neighbours or even have any in some cases.
Silent and Private living
Having no neighbours is another interesting feature that penthouses offer. Since these units, compared to regular apartments, are further from the street below, and usually span an entire floor, living in a penthouse suit means living in a more peaceful environment. Only absolute privacy awaits your return home.
Residents of penthouses are often offered exclusive access to amenities like a gymnasium, swimming pools and sometimes even private elevators. These are subjective to each buyer and can fall in either side of pros and cons of living in a penthouse.
Central locality
Another salient feature of living in penthouses is the location of its high-rise building. These vertical structures are usually constructed within or near the city centres – enabling residents with ‘ease of commuting’. Nevertheless, dwelling near a central location makes it very convenient to move around the city.
Having said this, one of the main disadvantages of being a penthouse dweller is also this central locality. Usually situated near urban centres, penthouse dwellers often find themselves stuck in traffic when going somewhere – which can become cumbersome as travelling duration increases two-threefold.
Nevertheless, among the pros and cons of living in a penthouse, the owner often enjoys a variety of services that others in the same building do not get.
Safety and Security
Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Are you afraid that something is lurking in the dark? Well, fear not. Generally, penthouses are very safe and secure as they are located on the top floor which eradicates the possibilities of anyone breaking into your home and whatnot! As it only has a one-way-in and one-way-out, even with limited security measures one can feel safe and secure – unless someone parachutes in.
CCTV camera surveillance, gated entrances with armed guards coupled with well-lit surroundings offer peace of mind in regards to security features. That said, make sure to take adequate measures to secure your home if you plan on living alone.
Status Symbol
Penthouses are always more expensive than regular apartments , therefore, it’s considered a symbol of wealth. However, there is more to this than what meets the eye. These penthouses often offer large and spacious rooms with various off-the-shelf and tailor-made facilities that add additional creature comforts to facilitate residents.
Not that this would be much of an issue, but penthouses are almost always the warmest among the entire building as the heat generated by the apartments below naturally rise up.
Fortunately, penthouses are usually free from mosquito infestations as they are ideally located at higher heights. So, it is safe to claim that residents are less affected by mosquitoes; adding to the pros of living in a penthouse.
Recession-proof investment
As Pakistan has been facing a housing shortage, penthouses are also not available in large numbers. That said, it’s a new concept in the country that’s quickly gaining ground and popularity. As long as the demand is higher than the supply, there isn’t much need to worry about depreciating value.
Cons of living in a penthouse:
Now that you have been enlightened with some of the major advantages of living in a penthouse, here are some disadvantages that may sometimes overshadow your expensive, exquisite and luxurious lifestyle choice.
- No weather shielding
- It is a long way up!
- Rooftop amenities
- Expensive and lavish lifestyle
- Hosting visitors and guests
- Management and upkeep
- Safety Hazards
No weather shielding
Among the list of pros and cons of living in a penthouse, one of the major disadvantages of living in a penthouse is that this property type has big and open spaces highlighting magnificence, and usually bigger windows for plentiful inflow of natural light. These may become a nuisance during extreme weather conditions, as these designs and unobstructed views offer minimum protection against the scorching summer heats or the bone-chilling winter winds.
You can obviously take precautionary measures but be prepared to pay the premium on your heating and cooling bills.
It is a long way up!
One of the pros of living in a penthouse suite is that an elevator is not taken as a luxury but as a prerequisite to the exquisite lifestyle. It would essentially open into your living room, but what to do when it is not functioning? Not all high-rise buildings have efficient or always functioning elevators installed. So, when all else fails and you end up taking the stairs, living high-up would not seem so nice, especially if you’re carrying something that restricts your mobility.
In addition to this, the existence of large unusable spaces due to either the shape of the roof or the architectural designs lead to the inevitable – more dead space than you’d need or want.
Rooftop amenities
This factor has both the pros and cons of living in penthouses, as several properties have a commercial rooftop place. What if a gym, a cinema or a restaurant opened right above your penthouse? You can’t object to that. You’ll probably have to live with it and all the footfall it generates right over your roof. Imagine a loud birthday party taking place right over your roof as you try to sleep in your luxurious penthouse. Now imagine people working out over your roof, the constant sounds of weights hitting the floor above leaking into your ‘once a peaceful room’.
Expensive and lavish lifestyle
The cost of owning or even renting a penthouse suit is way more than what you’d end up paying if going for an ordinary apartment. Penthouses are an expensive real estate investment. However, you pay more to get a taste of luxury. Yes, ordinary apartments are cheaper to rent and own than the property in question, but you cannot put a price on luxury and grandeur.
Pollution is also another key factor that can be a source of nuisance for penthouse residents. This type of property is very much prone to dust issues and high winds. Therefore, home maintenance becomes essential and its cost goes up more than what you’d be paying someone to dust your ordinary apartment – adds to the cons of living in a penthouse.
Hosting visitors and guests
Penthouse dwellers are almost always isolated from the rest of the building – feelings can be subjective to the list of pros and cons of living in a penthouse. Obviously, while living on the top floor, in ultimate luxury, no one stops to check up on the people living below them. Apart from that, running errands also poses a huge problem.
If an unannounced visitor drops by (be it friends, colleagues, or anyone), hosting them unprepared becomes a huge issue as you can’t just run down to the shops to get something on an urgent basis – same goes for when you’d fancy drinking or eating something late at night and you end up having a conversation with yourself that ‘is it worth the effort?’ These lifestyle questions clearly show the additional efforts one would have to put in for everyday things.
Management and upkeep
Moreover, the management and upkeep staff are also less keen on solving issues pertaining to a single client or a penthouse. Common sense dictates that they’d be more inclined at finding solutions to problems being faced by the majority of the residents. Room service is not always a phone call away, they’re going to take time to reach the building’s top floor to satisfy your concern – another disadvantage of living in a penthouse.
Additionally, ‘roof leaking’ is one of the most common infrastructural issues penthouse dwellers face. And it just doesn’t vibe with your lifestyle choice. Having such rudimentary problems do irk the residents as they’re already paying enough to avoid facing such snags. This can become particularly annoying as the potential for unseen damage exists in this situation. The brunt for any leakage in the roof will be taken by your penthouse, and the cost for repairs might also fall in your share.
Seepage and dampened walls pose another maintenance nightmare and can also include damaged wiring, non-functioning elevators, and plumbing leakages. Inevitably, the existence of a several residential units cramped together in large building makes the tracking and fixing the issue process, at its source, more difficult.
Safety Hazards
Safety is one of the key things under consideration when moving into a penthouse. Electricity and fire hazards are usually common in these vertical towers. Make sure that the penthouse you are planning to move to has adequate emergency exits and has properly maintained fire extinguishing systems. Regardless of the pros and cons of living in a penthouse, ensure the provision of timely evacuation procedures and mock drills – in case of natural calamities – to prepare the escape from natural disasters.
Now you know the major pros and cons of living in a penthouse apartment. If such a lifestyle is well suited for your needs, consider your options wisely and make sure to explore the design and floor plan of the suite before making a decision. If living on the top floor is not your preference and if you’re someone who’d go for ease of access to your flat, then check out our detailed guide on the advantages and disadvantages of living in a ground floor apartment.
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