Real Estate Sector Looks Forward to Promising 2022

New Delhi, Delhi, India: The real estate sector registered a healthy rebound in 2021. With the steady performance and quick revival, the real estate sector regained the buyer’s and investor’s trust and further picked up the growth momentum. According to the Knight Frank report titled ‘Real Estate Outlook 2022‘, India’s realty sector is showing signs of healthy growth in 2022.

Residential segment – As per the Anarock report, between Jan – Sep 2021, the residential sector saw a hike of 27% in new supply than the full-year supply in 2020, and the sales were also up by 5%.

Commenting on the sector’s performance Mohit Goel, MD, Omaxe Ltd. said, “2021 has been a challenging and eventful year for the real estate sector. Despite the business disruptions due to the pandemic, the sector witnessed a strong rebound. Supported by the strong economic growth, the real estate sector quickly picked up the momentum. The pandemic-infused trends coupled with low-interest rates, affordability, and other favorable factors expanded the realty growth in tier 2/3 cities and it is likely to lead the sector’s growth in the coming years. New asset classes like hi-street and multipurpose commercial properties found favor with investors and shoppers. Similarly, in residential, township projects, large-sized homes emerged as a preferred choice and will continue to drive real estate growth in the years ahead. With strong demand, evolving trends, and new emerging markets leading the sector’s growth, the coming year is likely to be an impactful year for the real estate sector.”

An under construction project located in Noida

The housing sector was quick to adopt digitalization and innovation and also witnessed a demand shift where offerings with best-in-class amenities became the most sought-after choice of buyers.

Talking about the trends and customer preferences, Mohit Jain, Managing Director, Krisumi Corporation told, “The work from home has emerged as the dominant undercurrent for shaping homebuyers’ preferences. We expect buzzing home sales activity to persist, the city’s periphery to maintain its top spot as the most in-demand region and flexible work options to continue to shape housing decisions in new ways in 2022.”

Vivek Singhal, CEO, Smartworld Developers, said, “The pandemic has remodeled real estate patterns, with developers prioritizing individuality and customer-centricity as their top considerations. Innovation & digital transformation will drive the boom of this industry in the coming year. 2021 has propelled a preference for a new asset class of independent floors located in gated townships. We foresee this demand to further grow in the coming years.“

“It has surprisingly been a great year for real estate, especially residential. After the pandemic, low-interest rates and rising demand for bigger homes have been a catalyst, and we experienced growth both in sales and prices,” said Pankaj Bajaj, MD, Eldeco Group.

Rahul Singla, Director, Mapsko Group, said, “Housing demands are likely to reach the pre-COVID level in the next two to three quarters while rates may be increased by 5 percent during 2022.  Albeit, the threats of the new variant are adequately contained with minimum disruption in the early part of the new year.“

Commercial segment – As per the CBRE report, office leasing activity reached 13.5 million sq. ft. in Q3 2021 growing at about 140 percent q-o-q, showing healthy growth in commercial real estate. Industry experts share views on the growth pattern.

Abhishek Pandey, Vice President-Customer Engagement & Distribution, Viridian RED, said, “The pandemic-infused changes have propelled the demand for flexible office space and hybrid models not only in the metro but in tier 2 cities as well. Owing to the aggressive government policies, propelling business ecosystem, companies’ expansion plans, new and emerging trends, 2022 is expected to witness the increased demand for Grade A office space.“

Vineet Taing, President, Vatika Business Center added, “The amalgamation of commercial real estate, coworking spaces, and grade-A offices with well-connected infrastructure has gained high momentum. The magnificent shift from traditional working stereotypes and work from home trends to coworking spaces and hybrid styles of working have pushed the large market players to adopt new business models with advanced technologies and smarter offerings.”

Retail segment – The return of customers to physical shopping destinations is pushing the demand for high-end retail spaces. According to a report, retail leasing activity touched 0.6 million sq. ft. in Q3 2021 across Grade A malls and high streets, and also witnessed a quarter-on-quarter growth of nearly 165 percent.

Talking about this, Pankaj Bansal, Director, M3M India, said, “Market is constantly expanding. There are tremendous growth opportunities for small and mid-level retail investors who are going to make the market more accessible to a wider audience. Boost in the real estate sector, which is the second-largest sector in terms of employment generation, only after agriculture, will further create jobs.”

Ravish Kapoor, Managing Director, Elan Group, said, “Increased business activities and transactions will gradually accelerate retail growth, resulting in a spike in demand for retail spaces such as stores and malls. Large-scale institutional investments are expected to stimulate the growth of India’s commercial real estate sector in the coming years.”