The COVID-19 or coronavirus pandemic has brought several aspects to the forefront and nowhere is this more pronounced than the Indian residential real estate sector. Several industry leaders have been mapping these anticipated changes in the sector. CEO and Co-Founder at Square Yards, India’s leading property aggregation and transaction platform, Tanuj Shori, has opined that COVID-19 has already sparked major consolidation in the real estate industry and ultimately, a handful of reputed realty players will survive, covering a majority of the home buying population in India. He also feels that those developers with sizable affordable housing and mid-range inventory will thrive along with those who have stronger balance sheets.
Shori also feels that home buyers will now emphasize on more space, particularly additional rooms/corners for setting up their workstations as they majorly work from home and visit office only a few days every month. For bigger unit sizes and more affordability, they will now be okay with buying homes on the peripheries or suburbs of major cities. Buyers will not mind longer distances from major cities anymore feels Shori.
Other experts also feel that a lot of mid-income and affordable housing demand may spill over to smaller Indian cities, suburbs and peripheral areas as more families look for affordable options and enhanced living space. This will also be a result of work from home becoming more prevalent in the months to come. People will naturally opt for bigger home sizes like 2.5 BHK and 3 BHK along with emphasizing on secure gated communities or integrated townships with stand-alone civic and social infrastructure. Buyers will also continue desiring proximity to shopping facilities, healthcare and schools/educational institutions as per many experts.
People will want to buy ready to move in homes or those units which are expected to be fully constructed in another 6 months or so. Branded and established developers will possess majority market share and are likely to deliver homes in a timely manner. Buyers will be more amenable towards considering realty projects with virtual or audio-visual viewing provisions/guides.
Square Yards is a technology-enabled, global real estate aggregator and India’s largest player for primary residential real estate. It’s subsidiary Square Capital is one of the largest marketplace for secured mortgages in India. Square Yards platform offers an integrated consumer experience & covers the full real-estate journey from search, discovery to research, transactions, home loans and post-sales service – fully integrating buyers to an extensive network of 500+ partner real estate developers, and 90+ banks & NBFCs. Square Yards is led by accomplished professionals, ex-bankers, and Ivy school alumni and is backed by the competence of more than 2500 employees in 30 cities and ten countries.