Low supply triggers rise in home rentals

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As more and more companies step up their plans to bring back employees to office, home rentals in the National Capital Region (NCR) have zoomed by up to 40% in the past one year. Home rentals have been a significant indicator of economic activity following the ebb in Covid waves and the rise has been pronounced in the NCR, with low supply of real estate facilitating the northward movement. Besides workers flocking back to office, new hirings have also contributed to the demand in rented accommodation in the region, according to The Economic Times.

Gurgaon leads

Rentals have risen both in middle-class segments, serviced apartments as well as premium accommodations since all sections of workers and expatriates are fast returning to work. The hike in rentals was pronounced in Gurgaon that has emerged as one of the preferred locations of a number of offices and upper-middle class professionals who want to stay close to their place of work and enjoy good quality of life.

Industry experts think that the surge in rentals might continue to rise in pockets with supply lagging demand.

The rise in rentals was evident from the middle of last year, when Anarock group, a leading real estate services company, said in August 2022 that both Mumbai and Bengaluru, the country’s commercial and IT capital, witnessed sharp rise in home rentals. The rise has been in the region of 15-20% in both these cities. Landlords in Chennai enjoyed rise in rentals to the tune of 8-10%, Hyderabad and Kolkata 5-10%. The rise in NCR was reported to be around 10-15%.

Rentals in the real estate markets all over the country went through a roller coaster ride since the outbreak of Covid paralysing economic activity and the wave receding, triggering a resumption of people returning to work. During the two waves of the pandemic in 2019 and 2020 a huge number of workers moved out of hired accommodation that had led to a fall in rentals. While rentals in Delhi’s Khan market declined by 8-17%, those in Bandra in Mumbai dipped between 5-10% in the January-March quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, according to data compiled by Anarock.