News: Demand for luxury rental homes in India nearing pre-Covid-19 levels-01-03-2021
Synopsis
Monthly rentals in some localities of the country’s top seven cities Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon have started inching up after the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, drop in infection rates and positive news ow in the real estate sector.
BENGALURU: Demand for luxury rental homes in India is nearing preCovid-19 levels, according to experts, reecting a smart recovery from the coronavirus-led disruption that almost brought the real estate rental market to a standstill for some months last year. Monthly rentals in some localities of the country’s top seven cities Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Gurgaon have started inching up after the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, drop in infection rates and positive news ow in the real estate sector. “The pandemic has disrupted most of the real estate market, but there were startling surprises that disproved many initial predictions. Luxury rentals, which had remained remarkably resilient till then, either remained stable or took a marginal dip,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of ANAROCK Property Consultants. “In luxury housing, many fence-sitters moved into purchase
mode on the back of unprecedented deals and discounts.” Year 2020 was an aberration for India’s real estate rental markets due to the coronavirus pandemic. Among the top seven cities, Hyderabad’s HITECH City, Alipore in Kolkata, Anna Nagar in Chennai and Gurgaon’s Golf Course Road saw rental appreciation of only 1-2% in 2020 as compared with the previous year. Even average property prices showed little or no change in 2020 over 2019
However, rentals of luxury homes in Mumbai’s Worli and Bengaluru’s Rajajinagar remained stable. “There are investor deals available on some residential luxury pre-tenanted properties where rental yield is up to 7% and capital appreciation can also be quickly realised,” said Bhavesh Kothari, founder of Property First, a luxury property broking rm. DLF, which oers luxurious condominiums in Golf Links in Gurgaon, has started a rental programme for two super-luxury condominiums--Aralias and Magnolias at DLF5 Golf Links--targeted at expatriate residents, business owners and CXOs primarily based in Delhi NCR. However, the rental housing market is expected to see a major llip, with the government expected to soon announce the model tenancy law to address issues related to the country’s unorganised real estate rental market.
