Realty boom driving up demand of resale dwelling

The booming housing market has triggered a wave of demand in the resale property market. With moods turning buoyant and demand outstripping supply, sales of completed homes or those that are nearing completion are rising, The Economic Times has reported. One of the factors that have accelerated demand in this segment is the absence of new homes where the buyer can readily move in. A second reason is gallopping prices of the new dwelling units, especially in the major markets across the country.

The demand for new units has exhausted the inventory in major markets that includes Delhi NCR, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The demand for ready-to-move-in apartments has zoomed in markets such as these and more.

Resale properties often provide an advantage since they are priced lower than those which are being constructed right now or are nearing completion. For those who are looking to maximise the utility of their money, these dwelling units hold out an alluring value-for-money proposition. Prices are lower by about 15-30% in the resale units. This is particularly visible in the price segment of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. To add to the appeal, some of the resale properties also have bigger carpet areas.

“Recently there has been a notable surge in the demand for resale residential properties across cities. This scarcity is due to delays in construction projects and a lack of new developments. Consequently, prospective buyers in urgent need of housing are increasingly looking towards the resale market as a practical alternative,” said Saurabh Garg, who is the co-founder and chief business officer of NoBroker. Incidentally, NoBroker is the first prop-tech startup that links owners to prospective home buyers that does not charge brokerage fee.

When the pandemic began to recede, the market began to revive and home buyers moved out flexing their wallets again, the need for 3-4BHK dwelling units increased. Th trend continues. According to Garg, 3BHK and even bigger apartments are in demand in the markets of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune etc. Two workstations, study rooms, areas for recreation such as patios (surface paved with concrete pavers, pea gravel outside the house) are items that homebuyers are looking for in dwelling units nowadays.

Vyoma Pandit, co-founder, Flow Realty India, told the newspaper, “Home buyers who purchased properties 3-4 years ago are now getting delivery of their assets. This is leading to a secondary supply uptick as investors are now getting an opportunity to exit a ready asset at good prices. Also, typically volume drops if prices move up. Still, this time the situation is defying micro-economic fundamentals, and the market continues to see an uptick in demand.”