Nearly 45 % of Indian respondents plan to move into a new home over the next two years and most of them, including millennials, want to purchase residential properties instead of renting, a new survey said.
CBRE India released a report ‘Voices from India: How will people live, work and shop in the future?’.
The survey found that respondents display a stronger intention to move to a new home in the next two years (44 % as against 31 % in the previous two years). This is significantly higher when compared to both global and Asia Pacific (APAC) respondents, it said.
The sample size of the global survey was more than 20,000 people, of which 1,500 were from India across age groups, Gen Z (Age 18-25), Late Millennials (Age 26-33), Early Millennials (Age 34-41), Gen X (Age 42-57) and Baby Boomers (Age 58+).
According to the survey, Gen Z led the preference towards moving to a new home in the next two years, compared to only 29 % of baby boomers. This indicates that the younger generation will primarily drive upcoming housing demand.
72 % of respondents planning to move in the next two years would prefer to buy a house than rent one.
Also Read: Real Estate Frauds, Delay In Flat Possession; Check These 5 Legal Things Before Buying A House
CBRE noted that around 70 % of millennials now prefer to buy over rent, a complete reversal of the trend in our 2016 survey.
“Our 2016 survey indicated that millennials were the generation renting – 68% of our respondents at that time not living with their parents had chosen to rent. However, in a complete reversal of trend, almost 70% of both early and late millennials would prefer to purchase when planning to relocate,” the consultant said.
Except for Gen X, all other generations displayed a higher preference for locations near the city centres. Gen X displayed a slightly stronger preference for remote locations and a greater desire to move to another country as more experienced professionals seek overseas opportunities.
In fact, across age groups, the preference to move to another country was the highest in India (when compared to global or APAC respondents),” CBRE said.
“While a majority of the respondents intend to purchase a house, we should not discount the remaining cohort looking for rental accommodation – 40% of Gen Z would prefer to rent rather than purchase,” news agency PTI quoted Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO – India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE, as saying.
While 20% of Gen Z would prefer private rental accommodation, 17% look at student housing and shared accommodation as an option.
“Since this is the age group that will drive rental accommodation, developers must outline strategies to understand and tap demand well in time,” he said.
Also Read: Smart Ways To Reduce Home Loan EMI Burden When Interest Rates Increase
The consultant said that the uncertainty around the pandemic has further accelerated the need for home ownership and security.
Meanwhile, the total leasing of office space, which comprises demand for all grades of buildings, rose 93% year-on-year in January to 3.2 million square feet across seven major cities, according to property consultant JLL India.
However, the leasing fell 56 %, compared to December 2022, which had seen 7.4 million square feet office space absorption.
In January 2022, the aggregate leasing activities stood at 1.7 million square feet.
In January 2023, the top three cities in that order were Delhi NCR, Chennai, and Mumbai, accounting for 77 % of monthly leasing activity.
(With PTI inputs)
Read all the Latest Business News here