Covid-19 has impacted all of us in many ways, changing our lifestyle, values, and beliefs significantly. Given that our collective memory is short, as evidenced by past events, Covid is still going to have a lasting impact on us. And some of this will become a permanent part of our conscious, the ‘new normal’. The way we live, and more so, the way we would want to live is going to impact the realty sector in a big way.
While it will prompt the real estate sector to go back to the drawing board, it will also offer new avenues to explore innovations to fast-track incorporation of new technologies – be it construction technologies, home automation, IoT, or AI. The planning would need to incorporate altered norms of social distancing, mobility, density, and health considerations.
The concept of work from home has indeed caught up across the spectrum but is especially significant for the millennials in the IT and related sectors. Post-Covid, the offices shall buzz again, but not as earlier. This is going to impact significantly the commercial and residential segments, which will also need to factor in the requirement of increased spacing and other health concerns. The e-commerce picking up in a big way during the pandemic is also going to broadly impact the shopping malls and warehousing in different ways. The lesser need for travel for work or tourism will reduce demand for the hospitality sector requirement of space.
The disruption during the pandemic would also drive the potential buyers to go in for nearly completed properties rather than during launch, except for the brands they trust. The real estate sector would need to work out the new ways to deal with the emerging dimensions to sustain itself effectively.
However, urbanisation is not going to stop, but will slightly slowdown in the coming months. Accordingly, the demand for all asset classes is going to be there and increase over time.
The product and factors which would excite the customers shall be different from what we have today. Possibly living in the crowded downtown may not remain the preferred choice and the demand may prop up for satellite townships, offering a much better quality of life.
The marketing of properties will change, wherein the focus will be on the specifics which are included to make them feel safe. Be it, appropriate public spaces, voice-activated controls, safer centralised air conditioning, larger lifts, etc.
The planning for residential complexes and specific housing unit is expected to change immensely. While larger public spaces and circulation areas would see an increase, the large swimming pool may be a thing of the past. The individual home would need to have a place or two to double up as the office for self or spouse or kids. The requirement of higher personal spacing, as also for open areas like balconies, would likely push up unit sizes.
Similarly, for office spaces, the need for social distancing would mean redesigning of cubicles and workstations. The centralised air conditioning would also need technological interventions to prevent the circulation of viruses. In all the cases, the need for avoidance of touching controls for lifts, lighting, etc., would mandate using voice-activated controls. IT interventions for uninterrupted availability of high bandwidth internet would be mandatory, as also higher capacity or increased number of lifts would be the norm.
The current real estate scenario with a large inventory of delayed and still unfinished houses, would drive the buyers towards nearly completed projects, requiring the builders to put in much larger investments into their projects. Servicing these increased investments would create an additional financial burden, which will necessitate completing the projects in the shortest possible time for them to be able to sell their properties to the buyers to generate resources.
To minimise the construction time, the use of construction technologies would be imperative. The technologies for modular construction, like precast systems, formwork systems, steel construction etc. are already in fashion to some extent, but post-Covid will become a norm.
These technologies would also be mandated by the non-availability of labour, mainly migrant workers who may not return fast enough. The requirement of quality for the much aware customers of today, also calls for industrialised construction in a big way. The pandemic would fast track this process of transition to new technologies.
All said and done, the virus outbreak is going to change the Indian realty sector in a big way, most probably for the better. This might be the inflexion moment for the real estate sector, enabling it to think anew and reimagine in this Covid reality.
This article is contributed by Rajesh Goel, Director General, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO).
(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of RoofandFloor)