How has the real estate sector faired overall in 2020?

Shelter is a basic need; so demand for homes continues. Renters are opting to buy, as are fence-sitters. The new-age home buyer has updated requirements to suit the ‘new normal’. Trends suggest there is more demand for larger sized homes keeping ‘work from home’ in focus. Homes in integrated townships have gained higher acceptance as their amenities and facilities ensure that even in a lockdown, basic requirements are taken care of.  

The knowledge take-away of 2020: COVID-19 pandemic showed that the safest place to be was in one’s own home. The year 2020 was a year of challenges. It was, in the words of the Indian Prime Minister, about ‘saving lives; then livelihood’. It will be remembered as the year when the main challenge was of ensuring survival; of changing marketing and sales outreach to digital platforms, of consolidation across real estate companies getting a heads-up, of a new buyer profile which was created by the ‘new normal’ – and a new paradigm for homes, where safety and security with a specific perspective of the pandemic gained prominence. On the positive side, home loans at historic lows and positive moves from authorities such as a time-bound stamp duty reduction in Maharashtra, which was matched by developers who are members of NAREDCO, in effect creating a ‘zero stamp duty’ situation for the home buyer. All said and done, a challenging year of resilience, when the survival instinct of real estate, as a business, was tested to the hilt.