BS Number Wise: Home truths about Indian real estate in the pandemic

Top tenants of commercial real estate-mostly IT companies-actually added to their office stock and demand for residential space is reviving.

There’s no place like home, but even for the affluent buying one in India is difficult. On top of that, the coronavirus pandemic—now in its eighteenth month—has made life uncertain. A hopeful thing is buying a house looks alluring as loan interest rates fall below 7 per cent, their multi-decadal lows.

The slow decline in GDP growth after demonetisation, followed by the economic shock caused by Covid-19 waves, has hurt us unevenly. Some of us have seen salary cuts or job losses. But hardly anyone—except for the likes of billionaire Radhakishan Damani who bought a Mumbai house worth Rs 1000