The concept of “Shared Economy” got severely tested during the peak of the pandemic. Factors such as uncertain economic conditions resulting in loss of jobs, work from home and the shift of migrant population to their respective hometowns in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak brought the evolving Co-Living sector to an immediate halt.
I often get amused when I get into the details of the industry survey that shouts at the top of its voice – “All is Well”. Some of these industry reports claiming the business to be witness to higher consumer sentiment are based on the feedback of connected parties like developers, banks, financial institutions and private equity players. All in all, it’s a family cycle where everyone is desperate to beg, borrow or steal for sale. The most important stakeholder – the home buyer – whose sentiment is being tracked is better left out in this mutual appreciation club of vested interests.
When it comes to the recovery of the asset class, the market doesn’t spread its gift with equal generosity. The historic high growth curve of the stock market post Covid crash in March 2020 didn’t make every company’s share valuable. Similarly, in real estate there are certainly some clear winners & losers during the pandemic, finds Track2Realty analysis.
Will the festive season of 2021 change the course of real estate is something that most of the analysts are curious to see. The festive season has just started and it is too early to guesstimate the exact sales volume & value growth at this point of time. But with a closer look at the Indian housing market one can probably vouchsafe that there are more catalysts of optimism than pessimism. How far this optimism is sentiment driven and to what extent the economic fundamentals support the business take-up is something that needs to be evaluated.
The real estate industry stakeholders are debating over the design changes and other functional changes in the housing projects after Coronavirus. An impression is gaining ground that the developers have the realization that the world has changed due to pandemic and they need to alter to fit into the buyers’ needs. An online poll by Track2Realty nevertheless finds that the industry is off the mark when it comes to read the pulse of the buyers. The buyers are not looking for knee jerk design changes but housing to have long term functional changes.
As part of a long-term partnership, Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry and CONNECT have announced two inaugural events, Middle East Design & Build Week (MEDBW) and Middle East Manufacturing & Technology Expo (MEMT). Both the physical events are scheduled to be held between 5 – 7 December 2022 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), UAE.
What is icing on the cake for the developers in these smaller towns now is the fact that they are getting the labour force at a much lower cost. Explaining this trend, Sandeep Agrawal, a property broker in Patna says that the labours were getting their daily wages in the Delhi NCR region in the range of INR 350-500, depending upon the project. But now they are more than willing to work at INR 250 in places like Patna, Kanpur, Kochi etc where they are stationed in proximity to their home towns and the cost of living is much lesser, compared to the metro cities.
A closer look at the way the sector operates indicates that the ground realities are different than what is being anticipated post this historic judgment. The Supreme Court order has hence raised more questions than settled the answers that could goad the sector to best practices in the business. The court order touches upon some of the grey areas like “long & expensive legal battle” that the buyers have to go through. It nevertheless doesn’t offer any solution for the same. The fact remains that the long & expensive legal battle is the primary cause of home buyers’ suffering in silence at the hands of the builders.
The cost of doing business per square feet has always been challenging in the top 10 cities of India. The ever increasing migration for jobs in these cities have made the housing affordability even bigger challenge. Critics are not cynical when they question as to what extent and till when these cities will continue to be filled up like a soda bottle. Aren’t our metro cities on the verge of a population blast? Come 2021 and Track2Realty analysis believes the infamous Coronavirus in a strange way has shown the way forward.
With the vaccination drive in full swing, there is renewed optimism, and the country’s economic momentum seems to be picking up. In particular, the real estate sector is witnessing new interest from homebuyers as seen in Q1 FY22, spurred due to positive government policies, initiatives taken by the developers and pent-up consumer demands. This is a new phase of real estate growth, innovation, and investment, contributing towards making India the world’s fastest-growing major economy.