The pandemic appears to have made the average city resident realize the worth of his home, which is now doubling up as office. And since that arrangement is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, home buyers are looking for bigger units – to ensure adequate space and comfort.
The shift in priorities is evident in the demand pattern. Queries at property builders in Bangalore showed that space and size have pushed utility down the priority rung.
Builders and brokers have noticed a spike in queries for ready-to-move larger homes priced between Rs 80 lakhs and Rs 1 crore after the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Around 80% of the demand is for 3 BHK homes from serious home buyers in the past two months,” said Pradeep Joe, chairman, Confederation of Real Estate Associates of India.
This trend is likely to continue for the next 12-18 months and is expected to gradually exhaust the ready-to-move inventory.
Further extension of six months by RERA for completion of existing projects should dry up the supply of larger – and built – homes.
“Since RERA has given an extension to builders to complete the under- construction projects, we will see very limited new inventory coming up in 12-18 months to fill this demand-supply gap,” said Bhavesh Kothari, Founder & CEO of Property First, a luxury property broking firm.
Bangalore has a very limited supply of large 3 BHK homes since no new launches have been announced in the past three months.
Further, fresh completions are unlikely to hit the market in the short term due to scarcity of labour and high input costs.
“We are witnessing an increased interest for larger homes, given that people now want to accommodate a dedicated study / office space within their homes. We are also seeing renewed interest in villas from buyers,” said Kishore Jain – President, CREDAI Bengaluru.
The nationwide lockdown imposed from the last week of March severely hit the real estate sector, resulting in many delayed launches.
Fresh housing starts in Bangalore dropped 54% in the first half of 2020 to 9,190 units with the budget segment forming 59% of the total supply, said Anarock Research.
(Source: Economic Times)
