The pressing need for affordable homes has never been so acutely felt as recently. Mired in a snowballing pandemic scenario which calls for an obligation to stay hygienic and maintain social distancing, jittery homebuyers are rushing back to the market in droves to buy ready-to-move and near-finished homes in a bid to keep themselves and their families safe and healthy.
It’s surprising to see how an unnatural disaster has actually preponed the idea of owning a home; homebuyers who were for long toying with this intention, have now pulled up their socks to realize it, looking at the rising health concerns and also the exhaustion of staying cooped up in their dwellings for months at a stretch due to the nationwide lockdown.
Owing a home top priority
Who had thought that owning a home would fall under the borderline ‘essentials’ category! And now after experiencing months of staying locked in homes, which doubled as office spaces for working professionals, people, especially millennials are seriously scouring online real estate portals and negotiating with real estate developers to buy a home.
Around 68% of homebuyers are end users while 55% among them are aged between 25 and 35.
The importance of a home as an asset has suddenly dawned upon homebuyers. Working professionals sensing the urge to have a separate office space to work remotely are looking for bigger homes with garden areas and other health amenities. Township projects have caught the eyes of most homebuyers as they come with yards of space and greenery.
According to urban housing experts, preferences of millennials for homes are dictated by prevailing health uncertainties, stock market volatility, and financial sector inconsistencies.
Many tenants are considering home purchases to get rid of continuous bickering with landlords and threats of eviction. The freedom of staying in one’s home has caught the minds of tenants who are taking advantage of attractive pre-payment plans doled out by developers and making down-payments to book a home.
Homebuying made affordable
The Reserve Bank of India has taken several measures to cushion the impact of the crisis. Reduction in repo rates by 40 basis points to 4% and reverse repo rate to 3.35%, has acted as a breather for homebuyers and also real estate players.
Homebuyers can now enjoy cheaper home loan rates and also take advantage of the extension of loan moratoriums to overcome loan repayment challenges.
The nationwide lockdown has resulted in bunching up of unsold inventory. Real estate developers facing acute financial crunch are resorting to property price cuts in the affordable homes’ category.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities are witnessing price corrections in the range of 10-12%. Those who have planned to buy a home immediately will take advantage of this situation. Fence-sitters who were waiting for a favourable opportunity have come out of their hidings and are negotiating hard with developers to get good bargains.
Digital homebuying an attractive proposition
The fear of virus contraction and the need for social distancing has led to a new digital ecosystem for real estate shopping. With virtual property tours & 3D walkthroughs to map every inch of the property, video chats with developers to download every bit of property information & get answers to queries and secure payment gateways for a hassle-free property transaction, homebuying have become easy rand quicker.
Good news is homebuyers are accepting this digital process of home shopping; the phenomenal home sale figures are a testament to that.
This growing inclination towards homeownership sounds like a good tiding for the Real Estate Sector, looking to get through this unprecedented situation. The runaway success of digital real estate platforms has boosted the morale of the sector and enabled developers to keep the ball rolling for new launches and speedy completion of under-construction projects. This will open the liquidity tap and protect realtors from further losses due to delays in construction. Looking at how things are shaping up, the realty sector is rightly poised to bounce back from this crisis and stand on its feet again.
