Is it the right time to buy a home?

New Delhi, Aug 4 The real estate market in India is one of the pillars of the economy and is the second-highest employment generator in the country after agriculture.

"In the context of the pandemic and with the rollout of the vaccine, real estate is expected to grow with renewed vigour. The current focus on 'Stay home, stay safe' has reinforced the importance of homeownership as living in an owned home is much safer and secure than the uncertainty faced in a rented home."

Shankar Sastri, Joint Managing Director, Sterling Developers Pvt. Ltd says, "The sector is deeply interlinked to as many as 250 allied industries and accounts for nearly 6 -7 per cent of the economy, which is set to rise to nearly 13 per cent by 2025. The sector has also been one of the biggest wealth creators in the past few decades."

Recently, the government has also introduced a lot of reforms and incentives for homebuyers to promote housing. Shankar shares many factors that make an investment in residential real estate lucrative in this scenario.

Low home loan interest rates

The current home loan interest rates offered by banks are the lowest in the last decade and are a big boost to homebuyers. The overall cost of buying a home goes down drastically with lower loan rates, which makes it the ideal time to buy your dream home. The RBI has maintained repo rates at a lower level to ensure that home loans are less expensive for homebuyers. Also, demand in real estate is highly dependent on the intensity of interest rates as they impact the monthly budget of buyers.

A secure and tangible asset class

Real estate has always proven to be a secure asset class and a tangible investment in times of crisis like the pandemic, a global calamity that has brought back attention to secure investments. Post Covid-19, everyone wants to buy a home that they can call their own given considerations of health, hygiene and social distancing. Fence-sitters too were prompted to buy homes, which has given a boost to residential real estate. This year will see a surge in demand for homes owing to not only reasons of safety, but also because of the volatility across stock markets. This has made real estate a safe investment class.

Availability of exciting offers and attractive pricing

There are many other factors that explain why it is the right time to purchase a property now. Property valuations are at realistic, bottomed-out levels, stamp duty is lower in some states and developers are offering flexible payment schemes, cost-saving incentives and other offers as well. All this implies that you don't buy a property at an inflated price and developers are willing to make it attractive for buyers. There are very real savings to be secured.

Preference for Ready Move-in properties

There are also several options available in the market with ready-to-move