Majority of homebuyers expect prices to increase this year, says Anarock survey

Nearly 56 percent of respondents to an Anarock survey said they expected housing prices to increase this year, the company said in a statement. The property consultant added that even if a rise in housing should take place, a sub-10-percent spike would have a moderate impact on sales volumes, while anything above could have an adverse impact.

Anarock said it had polled a total of 5,210 respondents between July and December 2021, a majority of whom said they believed a combination of inflation, rise in material prices, and a spike in operating costs of developers could lead to higher property prices. Anarock’s statement said this sentiment was in line with its own projections.

"Housing prices are likely to rise by 5 to 8 percent in 2022 due to an increase in input cost pressure and supply chain issues. Hardening interest rates, which are very likely in the second half of 2022, will be another factor driving up the overall acquisition cost for homebuyers," said Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Property Consultants adding that 56 percent of respondents to the survey were aware of this eventuality.

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Anarock’s survey also makes mention of better sales traction for newly launched homes in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Bengaluru property markets (over 31 percent of respondents favour the category, the survey says), while residential plots have held their own as the second-most-favored property category across the top seven real estate markets.

Further, Anarock’s survey indicates that 43 percent of its respondents prefer a home in the peripheries of a city, while a clear absolute majority of 63 percent prefer homes priced between Rs 43 lakh and Rs 1 crore.

"At least 63 percent of fence-sitting respondents are now determined to become homebuyers; for another 30 percent, the pandemic has not impacted buying decisions," Puri added, "This effectively means that 93 percent of respondents are now convinced homebuyers."

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The findings of the survey came soon after HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh claimed that minor spikes in lending rates would not impact home-buying or the demand for home loans as prevailing interest rates were at a “historic” low: “There has been no upward revision in the repo, and since interest rates are at historic lows, a minor increase will not have an impact on home loans."

Parekh added that the sweet spot for home prices in India was between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore and that reports of price-rise today must be seen only in isolation and not as an overall trend.

"In high-end premium projects, we have already seen a price-rise of 15 to 20 percent, but this is not the case across the board,” said the HDFC boss, “The sweet spot for housing is still in the price range of Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million."

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