Rise in home loan interest beyond 9.5 % to have high impact on housing sales: Survey

While the demand for 3BHK houses has outstripped that of 2BHKs for the first time, a Consumer Sentiment Survey said that the rise in home loan interest rate beyond the 9.5 % mark is likely to have a big impact on housing sales. At least 44% of the respondents preferred 3BHKs, followed by 38% favouring 2BHKs, said the survey conducted by the Industry body CII-Abarock. In the survey's H1 2021 edition, 46% preferred 2BHKs, and 40% voted for 3BHKs. Similarly, the demand for 4BHKs has also risen -- from 2% in the pre-Covid survey to 7% now.

The survey, conducted between January and June 2022, polled 5,500 participants responding via various digital platforms. This is even more significant considering that the survey also highlighted high inflation as a major cause of concern for respondent home buyers. 61% declared their disposable income as 'majorly impacted'. Most survey participants (92%) predict that the economy will either stay at current levels or improve marginally over the next 12 months. In the H1 2021 survey, respondents were more bullish about the economy - at least 16% expected it to improve significantly over the next one year.

"The demand for homes priced over Rs 1.5 crore continues to grow," says Anuj Puri, Chairman-CII Real Estate Knowledge Session on Tapping the Consumer Beat and Chairman - ANAROCK Group. "Compared to the pre-Covid 2019 survey, there has been a 4% rise in the vote share for these homes - from 6% pre-Covid to 10% in H1 2022. Buoyed by the increasing demand for luxury homes, developers have also significantly increased the new supply in this category in H1 2022. 

ANAROCK data revealed that 33,210 units priced at Rs 1.5 cr and above were launched across the top seven cities in H1 2022. Contrastingly, H1 2019 saw just 16,110 units launched in this segment. "The pandemic effect on home sizes continues - larger spaces in non-core urban areas remain in higher demand across the top cities. The reopening of offices and schools has changed little about this trend - as the increasing demand for the 3BHK configuration over 2BHKs vouchsafes," said Puri.

Interestingly, investors with an 8-10-year investment horizon have the most positive outlook in H1 2022. More than half of the respondent investors feel that the current housing market is a better investment proposition than it was 12 months ago, said the survey. The survey also highlighted that while ready-to-move homes still draw top buyer demand, the demand gap between ready and under-construction options continues to narrow. The ready vs new launch demand ratio is 30:25 in the H1 2022 survey, while it was 46:18 in the H1 2020 edition.