The Delhi-National Capital Region (Delhi-NCR), Hyderabad, and Bengaluru were the top picks to buy homes for non-resident Indians (NRIs), finds a joint survey of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and real estate consultant and developer Anarock.
Sixty per cent of respondents will buy homes in one of these three cities, with 22 per cent picking Hyderabad, 20 per cent Delhi-NCR, and 18 per cent Bengaluru, the CII-Anarock Consumer Sentiment Survey said.
Interestingly, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) came a distant fourth on the NRIs housing watch list.
In last year's survey, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai were the top picks. However, an earlier pre-Covid survey by CII-Anarock showed that 40 per cent of NRIs preferred 2BHKs.
The new report noted that the depreciating rupee value and the continuing buoyancy in the Indian residential real estate market are significant factors drawing NRIs' interests in the country.
Of the 5,500 respondents in the survey, 7 per cent were NRIs from the US, Canada, Gulf, Europe, and Asian countries.
"Despite the worst of Covid-19 is now over, NRIs clearly have not forgotten the uncertainties associated with living in a foreign country during a major pandemic," says Prashant Thakur, senior director & head of Research, Anarock Group.
"Securing homes in India remains a priority for Indians everywhere. While domestic homeownership sentiment remains strong despite hardening home loan rates and property prices, the depreciating rupee value against the US dollar gives NRIs a distinct advantage," he said.
The survey showed more NRI s prefer investing in real estate over stocks, mutual funds, gold, and fixed deposits. Seventy-one per cent of NRIs believe that investment in Indian housing is the best bet, markedly higher than 55 per cent in the pre-Covid edition of the survey.
The study said NRI demand in the housing sector has increased by 15-20 per cent in the first nine months of 2022 compared to the corresponding period of 2021. "The Jan-Sept period of 2022 saw approximately 2.73 lakh homes sold in the top 7 cities," said Thakur. "On an average, NRIs account for 10-15 per cent of homes sold in any given quarter."
The favourable exchange rate is another prime motivator for NRIs to buy bigger homes. The survey finds that over 77 per cent of NRI respondents would buy bigger houses, with 54 per cent preferring 3BHKs, 23 per cent 4BHKs, and 22 per cent 2BHKs.
