From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Feb 24: A large section of the urban working class people and professionals prefer Bangalore for buying a house, says a nation-wide survey conducted by ASSOCHAM.
Better connectivity, infrastructure, basic facilities and climate are the key factors for the special preference for India’s IT/BT capital.
Releasing the findings of the survey, ASSOCHAM Secretary General D S Rawat said about 49% of urban working class remain keen to park their surpluses in buying residential properties in view of better connectivity, infrastructure and basic facilities than commercial properties as these properties are beyond their means which involve higher volumes of investments.
Over 52% respondents, especially from among the professionals, have chosen the real estate properties in Tier-I cities like Bangalore (1st), Mumbai (2nd), Delhi (3rd), Kolkata (4th), entire NCR, Hyderabad etc. for gaining in maximum returns, said the survey.
Metropolitan cities continue to attract majority of seekers with 52% of the national respondents wanting to buy a house in the top five major cities like Bangalore followed by Mumbai, Delhi, Ahemdabad and Pune.
Bangalore has emerged as the most preferred destination for buying a house in 2014 as per the survey.
Amongst all cities, Bangalore is considered to be the most sought after location for real estate investment in 2014.
Mumbai occupies a special place in hearts of many Indians, who are attracted towards the city due to its diverse work force, employment opportunity, cosmopolitan culture and glamour.
Delhi (11%) follows Mumbai with 10% buyers willing to buy a property here.
Delhi has also witnessed healthy growth in infrastructural development with a new international airport and spread of metro services to the national capital region and will attract higher adoption in the coming years, the survey said.
Among the other major cities, Ahemdabad (9%), Pune (8%) and Hyderabad (6%) are the key real estate investment destinations of 2014.
Besides the top five cities, homebuyers have also shown a preference for Dehradun (4%) and Kolkata (3%), Rawat said.
“With improving economy and better job security; home buyers seem more confident for making a property purchase in 2014,” Rawat said adding: Majority of the home buyers want to buy a house for self consumption.
A whopping 65% of the national home buyers want to buy a house for self consumption.
It is interesting to know that 20% are looking at buying a house purely from long term investment (time horizon more than 3 years) and another 15% are looking at investing for short term (time horizon 1-3 years), adds the survey.
Another highlight from Delhi findings is that most of the real estate purchases that are likely to happen in 2014 would be for self occupation.
As many as 68% of Delhi respondents have confirmed that they are looking at buying a house for self consumption. 19% are long term investors.
Another interesting fact, said Rawat is that Delhi has the highest (13%) percentage of short term investors.
A major chunk of 40% are expecting property prices to correct by upto 20% while another 15% are more optimistic and are expecting a correction of more than 20%.
On the other hand, 18% believe that property prices would rise in 2014. The remaining 27% are predicting for stability in property prices over the next 12 months.
The Delhi homebuyer also holds a positive view about property price movement over the next 12 months as maximum (37%) respondents are expecting real estate prices to correct by upto 20%. Another 29% are expecting the property prices to have a stable movement in 2014.
In the current scenario with RBI advocating hardening of interest rates, home loans are likely to increase in 2014.
About 49% of national home buyers feel that home loan rates are expected to increase in 2014 while 26% are more optimistic and feel that interest on home loans would fall in 2014. The rest feel that home loans would remain stable over the coming year, adds the survey.