Majority of the respondents, almost 89% of those surveyed, wanted to buy a home when asked to choose between buying and renting, according to ‘Homebuyer Preference Survey 2021: The COVID-19 Impact’ by JLL in association with RoofandFloor released today. Most of the buyers making a home purchase decision for self-use fall within the following three distinct categories, with an increase in the proportion of buyers in the two latter categories:
The market survey covered more than 2,500 prospective homebuyers with respondents spread across the top six cities of Mumbai MMR, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Pune. The lockdown induced forced homestay has brought about a need for the sense of security that comes with having a roof over our heads. Self-use continues to be the primary reason for home purchase even today. So much so that in certain markets like Hyderabad, which have seen a reasonable appreciation in home prices over the last few years, increasing interest from investors was witnessed as they found this to be an opportune time to strike a good deal with developers.
Cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad as well as the Delhi NCR market are the prominent cities where the demand for 3BHK apartments has increased. Layouts of apartments, presence of balconies and an additional small room for work/online classes are in focus. This trend is more prominent in the cities of Mumbai and Pune where 1BHK and 2BHK are usually the most sought-after configurations. With more than 80% of the prospective homebuyers expected to make a purchase in the next three months, the residential market is expected to get back on the recovery path and 2021 is likely to end on an optimistic note. Developers are launching optimal sized houses to capture the changing preferences of consumers in the post-COVID era. While some of these changes will be fleeting in nature, others will be permanent. In the residential real estate sector, there is still a great deal of uncertainty around what permanent changes we are likely to witness,” said Siva Krishnan, Managing Director, Residential Services, India, JLL
