Yes, we’re discussing real estate trends to watch for in 2017 and no, we’re not going to paint only rosy pictures or mislead you into believing that demonetization has been the green-eyed monster that most have been led to believe.

Reading between the lines

Lets take a look at how the Real estate market was to start with-

– Commercial it is

Commercial properties, namely offices and SEZ parks have done well and one can expect that it will continue to remain so. Foreign investments and local institutional investors continue to see optimism & growth in the commercial real estate segment. Moreover, the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative has abode well for Indian industries as well as foreign companies who were looking at considering setting up their industries here.

A new trend to watch out for

A new and interesting offshoot of commercial real estate seems to be ‘shared working spaces’, in the sense that start ups and particularly solo entrepreneurs who’ve no need for dedicated 24×7 office space, have found that a co working module which literally means collective usage of an office space (furniture, meeting rooms and possibly some equipment) by several people who are running their own independent shows, has worked out exceptionally well for commercial property as it has for the said start ups/ entrepreneurs.

– Demonetisation and how it panned out for real estate

Demonetisation happened and it seemed to have swept in its ambit every business/ enterprise/ individual with black money. So while it has been a wonderful initiative for some, it has been a clean up act for many others. That be as it may, the purpose of demonetisation was also to bring in some monetary order in the real estate segment.

Naturally so, there was quite a bit of ensuing chaos and the realty segment, which for many seemed protracted, was drawn into an even longer process.
That’s one way of looking at it.

The other realistic fact is that demonetisation purpose was primarily achieved, in that it brought about an evening out of steeply priced properties and made the segment a level playing field for large and small players alike. For buyers, this also meant that there was a fair and bonus opportunity to purchase the property of their dreams without having to worry about managing black white ratios.

– A home for all

The recent impetus by the government with regard to inexpensive housing was a good one, this segment was conferred infrastructure status. What it means is that hinterlands of India would see 1 crore houses being constructed by the year 2019. To put it in perspective, the ‘Homes for all’ dream by the year 2022 was something that every analyst’s, industry player and common man was looking forward and now that steps in that direction have been taken, things are looking bright for this industry again.

– Real estate crowdfunding

Agreed, this is still very nascent in India however this concept is already very popular in the west and it may be only a matter of time before this initiative hit our shores too. In real estate crowdfunding many people investors) get together and form a consortium that allows for investment in a real estate project.

Watch out for this trend, it may just be the next big thing!

What it means for you

As an individual or an investor who’s been waiting for the right opportunity, the demonetisation and the consequent balancing of scales has meant that developers are keen to offer their properties with attractive schemes besides also making the buying/ selling transaction process a lot more shipshape. Now isn’t that good news or what?!