- Simon Sinek
Jan 22, 2023
"Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
The pandemic and the disruption caused by COVID 19 has put the spotlight on what the former US President said decades ago. Real estate was facing its share of challenges before the pandemic began like rising costs of construction, transition into new laws like RERA, GST, changing consumer behaviour with a preference for rented accommodation, etc. But the post covid real estate trend indicates that the perception about the real estate sector has changed for both, buyers and sellers.
The green shoots of revival were visible as soon as the lockdown restrictions began to be eased. From October-December 2020, the quarterly housing sales and new supply numbers reached 58,914 units in 8 prime residential markets in India. This was a 68% quarterly increase according to a survey conducted by a property brokerage firm. Reasons like fear of job loss, future uncertainty, inability to physically visit the site might have led many buyers to delay their buying decision initially, but as the economic recovery is visible with businesses restarting, people have started to reconsider their decisions.
Among the most prominent post Covid real estate trends is the shift in consumer preference from renting to owning a home. The aspect of safety and security of living in one's own home is amply clear for many.
The disruption has necessitated a change in the mindset of builders and developers. Digitization is being adopted on a much larger scale now. Earlier, builders limited their usage of digital tools to displaying their offering and sharing basic project details. But now, facilities such as virtual tours, drone shoots, video calls, online booking platform and chatbots are being implemented to make it easier for customers to make a decision and Aurum Ventures is leading this change on how to cater to customer needs.
Many organisations are adopting work-from-home as a permanent feature. With staying near the place of work no longer a constraint, people are preferring to move towards more affordable peripheral suburbs which are less polluted and less congested. Better public transport like increased Metro connectivity in many cities is also responsible for this changed behaviour. An oft-cited example of the post pandemic real estate trends.
The overall post Covid predictions are that these changes will spur the growth of tier II and tier III cities as smart cities. This will require a huge investment in real estate and thus is a responsible growth opportunity for the real estate sector which is being harnessed by firms like Aurum Ventures. This shows that the post Covid impacts are increasingly positive as Indians reiterate their faith in the real estate sector as their most preferred investment option.
