After the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the perception of real estate investing has changed, especially in the light of Hybrid working models or emergence of PropTech solutions in the housing sector. Now that the market is at all time high, the home sales have also increased. Interestingly, the digital transformation of Indian real estate sector has given a major boost to the property sales. Moreover, there are many significant trends emerged in the housing which have prompted the buyers to invest in residential properties.
Some of the key trends impacting the housing sales in the post-COVID era are listed below:
1. Inception of RERA
Introduction of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has certainly made buyers’ life easier. Customers are truly treated as King now with RERA in place. Now, the buyers don’t have to wait in long and tiring queues for the necessary approvals in order to purchase a property, neither they have to be worried about one-sided contracts or inappropriate demands by the developers. RERA prevents the sale of projects on paper and so the approvals are given to the buyers via digital medium and within a day.
2. Ready-to-move-in homes
The home buyers are losing their interest in booking under-construction flats because of extended delaying in the handover and escalating project failures. As a result, ready-to-move-in homes are gradually emerging as the most preferable option for buyers in the housing sector. So far, many builders have embraced the business strategy of “building first and selling afterwards” in order to attract the large number of customers. This concept is quite popular in foreign countries but now making inroads into Indian real estate market.
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3. REITs giving better investment choices
The Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have become a strong alternative for investment in the post-COVID era as they own, finance and operate income-generating properties such as shopping complexes, office buildings, resorts etc. Though the pandemic had put a full stop on all the investment activities across the world, things are now coming back to normalcy yet again with the new emerging trends taking over the financial market in India.
In fact, the changing market dynamics in real estate has also led to the growth of Non-Resident Indians (NRI) investment in the last few years.
4. Adaptation of PropTech
With the rapid urbanisation, top realty players have shifted their focus towards the latest PropTech trends like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and other tech-based approaches. The fast acceptance of Propech solutions in every sector of real estate – from construction to sale – was one of the most noticeable elements in 2021 and this popular trend in the housing sector is expected to be continued in future as well.
5. Home ownership becomes popular
The eruption of coronavirus pandemic across the globe has made people realise the importance of owning a house. In the pre-COVID times, the choice of living for millennials was different as the trends like rental house and co-living were more preferrable than purchasing a flat.
However, things have changed now. Both demand and supply of residential properties have seen a big surge in the last few months. The Buyers are now giving preference to larger homes with multifunctional areas such as workstation, activity space, as extra breathing room etc.
6. Distance is no longer a matter of concern
As most of the companies have adopted the Hybrid working policy, keeping the work-from-home culture alive, it eliminated the need of purchasing a home in the proximity of the office. The home buyers can now buy a property based on their location choices and hence distance will no longer be a matter of concern for them.
