53% buyers dissatisfied with ‘affordable home’ options: Survey

The demand for affordable homes (a special category of low-cost houses) has nosedived as at least 53 per cent homebuyers are dissatisfied with the currently available options, according to a recent survey conducted jointly by FICCI and realty surveyor ANAROCK.

The survey found that while homebuyers were looking for the ‘affordable’ homes segment as an option for buying homes or investment, but what was being served by a majority of players had failed to enthuse them. The issue was impacting the popularity of this vital segment across cities including Delhi-NCR. Declining demand for affordable housing has had a cascading impact on its supply in the last one year. ANAROCK data highlights the shrinking supply of affordable housing in major cities, dropping from 26 per cent of total launches in 2021 to just 17 per cent by 2024. Prior to the pandemic in 2019, affordable homes made up 40 per cent of the new projects.

“The top three reasons for prospective affordable homebuyers’ disenchantment with the currently available houses are bad location accessibility, questionable construction quality and poor design, and constricted unit sizes,” says Anuj Puri, ANAROCK Group Chairman.

“Of the dissatisfied home-seekers polled in the survey, a whopping 92 per cent respondents identified project location as the biggest grouse, while 84 per cent stated low construction quality and inferior design elements as major deterrents. 68 per cent respondents found the available unit sizes too small to be attractive,” says Puri.

According to Puri bigger homes continue to dominate buyer preferences despite spiralling prices in the last one year.

Over 51 per cent of the current survey respondents showed preference for 3BHK units and just 39 per cent said they would settle for 2BHK options. City-wise analysis indicates that the demand for 3BHKs is particularly high in Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, and Bengaluru, where over 50 per cent respondents prefer it over other flat sizes. Conversely, over 40 per cent participants in Kolkata, MMR and Pune name 2BHKs as their preferred option.

51% property seekers prefer 3 bhk

• Project location accessibility, low-quality construction & small unit sizes major deterrents for affordable housing buyers
• 28% respondents prefer homes priced between Rs 90 L and Rs 1.5 cr vs 18% in pre-Covid period
• 51% property seekers prefer a 3 BHK, 39% prefer 2BHK
• 57% residential property investors seek steady rental income across cities