Women key homebuyers post Covid-19; enquiries, sales and loan ticket size see a jump

Women are no longer dependents when it comes to owning the house. Talk to real estate players, most of them highlight that they have seen women participation growing in home ownership.

“Millennial women are progressive and are willing to take a deeper plunge based on their financial independence when supported with appealing incentives of healthy returns. We have seen reflection of this trend in our latest project launches with a considerable rise in enquiries as well as sales coming from women,” says Shweta Thakker, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, AhujaHIVE.

A Consumer Sentiment Survey by property consultant ANAROCK, earlier this year, corroborated the trend. Women’s preference for real estate has risen post-Covid-19 – from 57% votes in the pre-Covid survey to 62% in the current edition, it says.

Trends

“Many Indian women now consider housing not just the bedrock of financial security but also essential to diversify their investment portfolios. For 62% women, Indian real estate is the preferred investment asset class for investment. In contrast, 54% men chose it over the stock market, FDs & gold,” it notes.

The report further says that 82% of women respondents accepted that they will buy a home for end-use.

With more women participation in workforce and them climbing the corporate ladder, the shift is a welcome natural progression. Women-centric concessions and lower borrowing rates are also attracting them to real estate.

“Women have gone from being a key influencer to a decision maker and this has promoted the authorities to provide entitled tax benefits, rebates on stamp duty and lower interest rates – in an effort to open up the funnel and get women to invest in risk oriented sectors with long terms gains,” says Thakker.

Government incentives

The homes under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) have to be mandatorily registered either in a woman’s name or with women as co-owners. There are state-specific concession in stamp duties if one buys a home in the name of a woman. This could be 1-2% in various states. It is as high as 4% in Punjab.

Just as home ownership by women increases, the loan ticket size is growing too. Online marketplace Bankbazaar in a latest whitepaper noted home loan ticket sizes have gone up.

“The biggest jump in average ticket size has been among the women borrowers, at Rs 32 lakh, an increase of 7.4% year-on-year. This can be an implication of the pandemic; the changing work culture necessitated an increase in the amount of space and privacy, especially in homes where both partners worked, leading to a preference for bigger houses,” the report says.