siliconindia | | August 20209The government's support of exten-sion of deadline for completion of real estate projects and the Reserve Bank of India's decision to allow moratorium on all loans with deferment in interest payment on these loans for six months are life-support relief for the real es-tate sector. Moreover, another cut in the reverse repo rate by 40 bps from 3.75 percent to 3.35 percent will fur-ther inject liquidity into the economy. The commercial realty sector could possibly witness the following trends post COVID-19 ­ · Social distancing has now be-come necessity since it is one of the best preventive solutions for the ongo-ing pandemic. Today, every business sector has comes-up with new norms for safety reasons. Companies are now required spacious offices or work place to follow social distancing. Presently, all firms operate on maximum density. Offices will have to operate at 30-50 percent density to adhere to the social distancing guideline. The new safety norms would result in de-clustering of large work spaces. Even work from home cannot replace the importance and necessity of modern high quality work places.· With the expansion spree, the IT/ITeS companies could possibly go for rationalization of manpower and opti-mize their real estate portfolios in vari-ous cities and metros.· Technology has even helped to evolve the real estate because of wide usage and reach. It has made very easy for the investors to start their business right from virtual tours to e-registering the properties.· People are investing more and more in the commercial properties because today is the era of the entre-preneurship and owing an own busi-ness. The expansion would increase considerably because of the remark-able commercial spaces in the periph-eral areas. The design and quality have set new standards, meeting all the de-mands of commercial real estate. It has further led to the movement of busi-nesses and employment centers, town-ships with mixed developments across all the areas.· Post COVID, the demand for commercial space, especially the re-tail segment, will undergo a massive change. There will be high demand of common spaces with open sky and in-dependent access to shops. The shop-ping centers with own air-conditioning and maintenance would be preferred.· Travel will not be an option for few days to celebrate the special days; so malls will not regain their focus and momentum till time unknown. People with high disposable income will focus more on entertain and rec-reational activities in high street retail shopping centers.· As NRIs are coming back to In-dia, there would be possible increase in terms of investment for new busi-ness avenues. Various people have mi-grated to hometown with no intentions to make a comeback to metro cities. People with businesses will definitely try to set-up their business in the home-town as they would want to be with their loved ones. Such demands were already on a rise from a while, and post COVID crisis, it is likely to move fur-ther. NRIs and HNIs too would start in-vesting more in commercial real estate after the pandemic is over. The primary reason being the interest rates are at the lowest, leading to real estate becoming a very attractive proposition.Investors will also continue to invest with regards to new trends. Due to this investment, there would be increase in development of sub-urban hubs which offer a balance of restaurants, retail, and entertainment, encouraging for more of physical and social distancing. There is a very high permutation for tremendous in-vestment in commercial real estate sector post-COVID-19. Post COVID, the demand for commercial space, especially the retail segment, will undergo a massive change
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