What is the importance of having a bigger home, especially post COVID?

 Covid 19 has brought an unprecedented cultural and humanitarian challenge. As it threatened to bring all activities to a standstill, most of the large companies acted swiftly and created a new protocol of working - WFH or Work from home. Organizations will be required to continue reimagining the intersection of office and home to create safe, secure and enjoyable work and living spaces.

Following the lockdown, a majority of the workforce has been forced to work from home. Many people would have been forced to make quick changes in their homes, to accommodate this new lifestyle. However, others may have been faced with space constraints.

Consequently, the demand for larger homes may grow significantly in every city, along with the ticket size of these purchases. Thankfully, factors like record low home loan interest rates, stable property prices and easy availability of ready housing stock in India’s prime residential markets, could ensure that buyers do not have to postpone their home purchase because of monetary constraints.

Along with the work, the learning spaces also shifted to homes. The kids need noise free, private spaces to be able to attend to their online classes peacefully. This has been pushing a lot of families to stress as there is insufficient space available to accommodate this new requirement. This again results in a situation where people are forced to redesign their homes or to buy a bigger home with extra rooms.

For millennial, stepping out of their homes for entertainment or leisure, was an integral part of their daily lives. The absence of open spaces, such as a balcony or a courtyard, within the house was never an issue. Moreover, in space-constrained cities, people often covered the available open spaces, to make use of every inch of space. This is likely to change and even after the lockdown is lifted, people will seek open spaces to relax and rejuvenate. The lockdown will make people understand that open space is just as important as storage space.

Extended lockdown periods, gym closures and limits on time spent outdoors, has made many people feel the importance of exercise for one’s mental and physical health.

Many buyers are now seeking flexible space in the home to accommodate gym equipment and space to exercise. This could be allocating a spare bedroom to be turned into space for a home gym, or creating a dedicated space to accommodate working out at home.

The additional emphasis laid down during this period on keeping one healthy to improve his immunity has further highlighted this requirement. This generation anyway has been more focused on healthy lifestyle. It just adds up to the desire of buying a bigger space when looking for home right now.

It is no secret that the Pandemic has forced people to make new adjustments keeping in sync with the requirements of new ways of operation. Getting a larger home is top of the heap and it will be no surprise to see huge upswing in the demand of the larger homes as we go forward. Luckily the home prices have been at a low and home interest rates have been benign, which augurs well for customers as well as the Real estate developers.