Revival Of The Real Estate Sector In Post-Covid Era

COVID-19 pandemic was harsh and it impacted all the sectors alike. The lockdowns and curfews that ensued, made everything unpredictable. One of the sectors which suffered a huge setback was that of real-estate. The primary reason for the setback was the lack of a future forecast.

Real-estate sector is majorly driven by forecast and planning of the upcoming events. During the pandemic, no one was sure of what was going to happen in the future. As far as investment is concerned, nobody was ready to park their money in the unpredictable sector.

The Indian real estate sector is considered to be very mature. It has witnessed several disruptions in the past and has overcome them. The challenges created in the past two years have made it seem very difficult. The overall economy of the country has witnessed a downward trend. The demand for property hit the bottom levels and construction activities could not continue because of the restrictions. Talking individually about the sectors, the commercial sector of real estate was majorly hit because of the ‘work from home’ concept. The existing offices were shutting down and new office spaces or commercial establishments were not coming up.

Intervention By Government

Keeping in view the impact of the pandemic on the real estate sector, the Government of India took the initiative to revive it. It began with the presentation of a positive budget in the year 2021-22, that enabled the sector to stand back on its feet. Several State Governments also joined in and stamp duties were slashed by several state governments. In other states, GST was lowered, which benefited in registration of new property. The RBI also kept the repo-rate unchanged, which enabled home buyers to access loans at cheaper rate of interest.

Post Covid-19 Trend

The trend has been positive since the past one year or so. In Delhi-NCR, the demand in the residential sector has grown manifold. Several factors have contributed to the demand and micro markets such as Noida, Greater Noida and Gurugram, have flourished. In other parts of the country also, the organised residential sector has flourished. Buyers prefer getting a residential space in approved townships and colonies, which have all the certifications and clearances. Real estate developers, like the Rajdarbar group are paving way for further growth of the sector. People living in the interior of cities are now preferring to move into spacious and organized living-spaces. Most of the real estate sector has witnessed a double-digit growth in the past one year.

Positive Impacts Of The Pandemic

Some experts also see the pandemic as a positive impact on the real estate market. It can also be quoted as a ‘price correction’. Housing properties are now available at much affordable rates than before. The regular growth in demand of the past few years had resulted in an enormous growth in the rates of the property so much that most of the properties had become unaffordable for the people. The price correction has brought the extravagantly priced properties back within the market reach.

Another positive impact that is witnessed is that customers have increased their ‘peripheral vision’. They have started to look, where they did not look earlier. People have started to explore the market and come out of the rut. This serves as a great opportunity for the real estate developers and they can now understand the pulse of the market and position their projects accordingly. Some developers are already doing it and have expanded their offerings to the market. The housing units are now available in a variety of sizes and prices.

The Road Ahead

The performance of the real estate sector is looking promising for the future. Many developers have learned from the pandemic and have changed their layouts and redesigned their projects. Customer preferences have changed both in the residential and commercial properties.

It is one of the most interesting times in the real estate sector. The type of responsiveness being shown by the real estate sector was never witnessed earlier. It is encouraging to see that the real estate developers and colonisers are keeping a close watch on the preferences of the end customer.

They are being very flexible with the type of units they offer, both in terms of pricing and layout. While new projects are coming out with better facilities, the post pandemic time is rightly being considered as a ‘renaissance’ for the real estate sector. The sector has started a positive trend that never existed earlier; better customer service.

(Writer is Director of Business Development and Strategy, Rajdarbar Group)