As people move back for work, rents rise by 12% across cities, says report

• About 71% of respondents of NoBroker’s Rent Report have already moved to their work cities.
• These relocation activities have caused a property crunch in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune.
• The crunch in available property has increased the rents as much as 12% across cities.

People are willing to spend much more on their rents in search of better and bigger accommodations after the Covid-19 pandemic, a latest report by online property rental platform NoBroker has revealed. However, the rents in the markets have also increased, and that’s pushing people to buy out their own property.

About 71% of respondents of NoBroker’s Rent Report have already moved to their work cities, while 54% are looking to relocate within the city or to the city they work in the near future. These relocation activities in the last six months have caused a property crunch in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune, the report added.

Saurabh Garg, co-founder and chief business officer of Nobroker, noted that the dearth of available property and demand – has increased the rents by 12% across cities. Meanwhile eight in ten of the respondents have stated that they are having difficulty finding a property of their choice.

“Past few years have seen rentals hit rock bottom with many landlords reducing rent to retain tenants. The last few months have however been challenging for tenants who are now having to pay a much higher price for the same properties which were available for much lesser rent during Covid,” Garg said, adding that the rent inflation could subside in the next few months.

Buying out an apartment is one the bucket list

The tenants are looking for bigger apartments to start their work from office life once again. The report by NoBroker noted that seven out of ten respondents have confirmed that their rental budget has increased, especially since they are looking for a bigger accommodation.

“Savings due to pandemic and increase in salary were other reasons that contributed to this,” the report added.

NoBroker also noted that 72% of the tenants are even considering purchasing a property since interest rates are “really” low.

“Interest rates have shot up somewhat but they are still much lower than pre-pandemic level. Interestingly, the reasons cited for this are that EMIs are more manageable, it is difficult to find a good property to rent, and that prices are anticipated to shoot up,” the report added.

A report by Crisil, published in May, noted that the housing demand in India's top six cities — Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, and Hyderabad — is expected to grow 5-10 % despite rising property prices, interest rates and a high-base effect.

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