Housing demand hitherto has remained dominant in the top 8 cities of India. According to Housing.com, it is now gaining momentum in Tier II & Tier III or ‘shadow cities’ with the trend becoming more prominent post the nationwide lockdown. The recently launched Virtual Residential Demand Index states that the demand from small cities had been increasing steadily but saw a significant spike in August 2020. Overshadowing the metros, the index jumped to 210 points for ‘shadow cities’ compared to 150 for the metros post the nation entering into Unlock Phase 4.0. As per the Think Piece titled ‘Time for Internal Globalisation – Small Cities Setting the Tone for Revival’, the online platform observed a surge in virtual residential demand from ‘shadow cities’ (Tier II & III cities). Reverse migration of the corporate workforce and increased flexibility due to remote working is one of the key drivers cited for this surge in virtual residential demand.
Cities like Agra and Amritsar witnessed an impressive growth of more than 100 per cent in the virtual residential demand over pre-COVID times, while cities like Vadodara, Ludhiana, Mangaluru, Chandigarh and Lucknow saw more than 80 per cent growth in residential demand in that period.
