As the real estate business booms after a hiatus of about a year due to the pandemic, there has been a surging demand for properties by NRIs. Many non-residential Indians have returned to the country and are looking out for the best properties to settle in. Among the prime cities in India, Bengaluru stands as the most desirable location chosen by NRIs themselves. The budding IT sector and the efficient infrastructure makes this place the ultimate real estate investment spot.
About 22% of NRIs preferred Bengaluru, followed by Pune (18%) and Chennai (17%), according to a survey by the ANAROCK Property Consultants. The least preferred city was Kolkata with 4% votes. Bengaluru has been an ideal destination for both Indian citizens and NRIs because of the high-paced development that has been taking place in the city. Major IT companies and MNCs have their branches here. This makes the place ideal for IT and corporate professionals.
There has been a change, however, in the pattern of investment by NRIs. The emergence of Covid-19 has long kept people in the folds of uncertainty. The lag in economic growth has aggravated people in the worst way. Now that the world is healing and workplaces are running in full force, people are looking forward to settle and start afresh. As is revealed by the latest CII-ANAROCK Consumer Sentiment survey, NRIs are keener on buying properties in India for self-use purposes rather than for investment. The survey further stressed that, in the upcoming months 53% of NRIs are to buy property in India for end-use, while 47% for investment purposes.
Luxury apartments with state-of-art amenities is of highest demand among the NRIs. Almost half of the respondents of the survey preferred a price range above INR 1.5 Crore for luxury apartments, while 32% preferred premium properties in the price range of INR 90 Lakh – INR 1.5 Crore. 11% settled for mid-segment homes priced between INR 45 Lakh – 90 Lakh while 7% chose affordable, pocket-friendly properties. There are as well property demands in smaller cities like, Chandigarh, Kochi, Surat, Ahmedabad and Lucknow by non-residential Indians who want to stay close to their families. These are among the favored tier 2 & 3 cities.
Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Group says, “There has been a very perceptible increase in Indian housing demand from NRIs at this stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The reason for this rekindled demand he affirms is “the fallout of COVID-19 on global economies and job prospects”. With 48% votes, we see a higher demand for big homes with 3BHK configurations (over 1,500 sq. ft.), followed by 28% votes for 2BHK configurations and 24% votes for 4BHK formats and other higher configurations. The fall in demand for luxury apartments came right after demonetization. Affordable homes, thus, became the preferable choice of all NRIs. The tables have, however, turned now. Luxury apartment seems to be the future of real estate. The revival of its demand certainly speaks of better days for the real estate business in India. As of now, Bengaluru is the winner, bagging home the much-needed accolades.
