70% millennials plan to buy instead of rent: CBRE survey

New Delhi: Nearly 45 per cent of Indian respondents plan to move into a new home over the next two years and most of them, including millennials, want to purchase residential properties instead of renting, according to a survey.

Based on the survey, property consultant CBRE India released a report 'Voices from India: How will people live, work and shop in the future?'.

The sample size of the global survey was more than 20,000 people, of which 1,500 were from India across age groups -- Gen Z (Age 18-25), Late Millennials (Age 26-33), Early Millennials (Age 34-41), Gen X (Age 42-57) and Baby Boomers (Age 58+).

The survey found that respondents display a stronger intention to move to a new home in the next two years (44 per cent as against 31 per cent in the previous two years). This is significantly higher when compared to both global and Asia Pacific (APAC) respondents.

"Gen Z led the preference towards moving to a new home in the next two years, compared to only 29 per cent of baby boomers. This indicates that the younger generation will primarily drive upcoming housing demand," CBRE said.

As per the report, 72 per cent of respondents planning to move in the next two years would prefer to buy a house than rent one.

Across different age groups, CBRE noted that around 70 per cent of millennials now prefer to buy over rent, a complete reversal of the trend in our 2016 survey.

"Our 2016 survey indicated that millennials were the generation rent - 68 per cent of our respondents at that time not living with their parents had chosen to rent. However, in a complete reversal of trend, almost 70 per cent of both early and late millennials would prefer to purchase when planning to relocate," the consultant said.

Except for Gen X, all other generations displayed a higher preference for locations near the city centres. Gen X displayed a slightly stronger preference for remote locations and a greater desire to move to another country as more experienced professionals seek overseas opportunities.

In fact, across age groups, the preference to move to another country was the highest in India (when compared to global or APAC respondents)," CBRE said.

"While a majority of the respondents intend to purchase a house, we should not discount the remaining cohort looking for rental accommodation - 40 per cent of Gen Z would prefer to rent rather than purchase," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO - India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE.

While 20 per cent of Gen Z would prefer private rental accommodation, 17 per cent look at student housing and shared accommodation as an option.

"Since this is the age group that will drive rental accommodation, developers must outline strategies to understand and tap demand well in time," he said.

While India has always been an economy where home buying is preferred over renting, the consultant said that the uncertainty around the pandemic has further accelerated the need for home ownership and security.

With the pandemic having raised the importance of health and safety, the demand for professional property management services, particularly in apartment buildings has been on the rise. There is also an increasing need for dedicated office space at home as hybrid working becomes more widespread.