As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its economy disrupting course globally, businesses, after the initial shock from such an unprecedented worldwide event, have understood that adaptability is the only mantra for survival. In short, businesses need to do what has been happening in the universe for billions of years. They need to evolve.
School classrooms across the planet have a newfound address in video interaction apps like Zoom and Google Classroom. Drone deliveries are suddenly, a thing, while government spending on technology and medical infrastructure is a pressing need of the hour – a big departure from stocking arms and ammunition. Housing distribution companies are no exceptions then and must do their share of soul searching to continue to provide to a human’s primary need – the need for a roof on the head.
The lockdown has unearthed some stark realities, removed all the sugar coating on them and pressed them right between our eyes. Rural-urban migration being the greatest of such realities. It is not about the rich and the poor anymore. It is not about how many square feet a human really needs to dwell in. Today, the dire shortage of decent housing across global cities is more evident than ever.
Also read: How Technology Helped Square Yards Record April 2020 as Biggest Sales Month
The pandemic has made it quite clear that we cannot continue to stuff the most hard-working citizens of our world, by the thousands, into ghettos. Why? Because what happens in a ghetto tomorrow could wipe out a significant portion of our species, people residing at 10 Downing Street included. When we are faced with that consequence, change is inevitable, and change will be rapid.
So, is that the sound of the housing market dying? Is your dream home project shelved? If you’re planning to sell your property to upgrade to a bigger one, are your hopes dashed? Have the doomsayers convinced you that recovery from this is almost impossible? It is in fact, quite the opposite.
If you analyze housing transactional and price data from previous pandemics, you can safely conclude that while home sales dropped dramatically during a pandemic fuelled lockdown, housing prices stayed about the same or witnessed a very slight decrease. This makes sense because prices cannot change when there are far lesser transactions. Very simply put, this lockdown has put the housing market on pause.
But housing sales have certainly not reached zero and never will.
Housing is a basic need, and the decision to buy a home is prompted by entering a new stage of life, irrespective of pandemic lockdowns or stock market crashes. Thanks to technology like virtual tours, online sales meetings, real-time housing inventory access, and online payments, home buyers are still lapping up good deals from top-rated developers.
At Square Yards, we are facilitating hundreds of home sales globally on a daily basis, and the customers we have acquired during this lockdown are probably our most delighted customers yet.
The pandemic may have changed the way real estate transactions are done, forever. Our tech – with comprehensive presales, transactions, mortgage, and post-sales modules, is not merely a stop gap solution to this lockdown, but a real-life example, that pivoting to a new business model during an economy shattering pandemic, if done right, can change the course of this industry in a manner that suits the ever growing need for social distancing and digital handshakes.
At Square Yards, we will continue to monitor the slightest changes in the way homes are being bought and sold. We also promise to keep publishing our findings while fine tuning our own sales methodologies to ensure that as a home seeker, you are not just a witness to the change, but a core part of its creation.
Also Read : Housing Inventory and Demand are just the Same, giving Matchmaking Immense Potential.
