With increased risk of delay in completion of housing projects due to COVID-19 outbreak, over 75 per cent of prospective homebuyers want to purchase properties from reputed private builders and government authorities, a survey by property consultant Anarock showed.
The survey was conducted during April 20-27, 2020, with a sample size of nearly 2,000 prospective home buyers across major cities.
"COVID-19 has changed buyer preferences with more people now preferring risk-free investments. 62 per cent prospective buyers prefer to buy a home from leading developers with least project execution risks even if the property is relatively higher priced," Anarock said in a report.
Around 14 per cent wanted to buy flats from the government institutions like Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), it added.
"This sums up the mood of the buyers. More than paying extra bucks, buyers prefer to avoid project execution risks in the current situation," Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said.
The preference for reputed, organised developers with the least project execution risk has also risen. Buyers with this preference have increased to 62 per cent from the previous survey's 52 per cent, he noted.
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Interestingly, government-built homes are also gaining popularity, Puri added.
In contrast, merely 6 per cent would consider buying from developers offering lower prices but with high risk of execution delay. Around 18 per cent respondents preferred low prices with moderate execution risk.
As per the Anarock data, more than 2.61 lakh units were sold in the top 7 cities - Delhi-NCR, MMR, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune - in entire 2019 of which nearly 54 per cent were sold by the branded developers and the remaining by the non-branded ones.
During January-March 2020, the top 7 cities saw housing sales of nearly over 45,200 units of which nearly 59 per cent was by the branded developers.
'Branded' developers include listed players, developers who have been operating for a decade and more, even newly-formed entities of large conglomerates and also those with sizeable areas under development either locally or pan-India.
The survey also found out that 48 per cent respondents prefer residential real estate as the best investment option during COVID-19 largely due to lower risks attached.
Around 25 per cent respondents prefer stocks, 18 per cent gold and 9 per cent fixed deposits.
Anarock said that 16 per cent of respondents have put their plan to buy flats on hold, while another 28 per cent would buy after 6-12 months.