The Bangalore real estate market is witnessing an influx of younger property buyers who are steadily returning to the market as per reports. According to major studies, the overall proportion of real estate purchased by people lower than 40 years of age has increased considerably over the last 5 years. The majority of purchases is done by people who are between 31-40 years of age and there is now an increase in the number of buyers between 21-30 years of age.
Youngsters aged between 25 and 35 years were the largest property buyers in Bangalore when the real estate boom engulfed the Garden City between the years 2002 and 2008. There was easier access to housing loans along with growing employment in the IT sector and tax concessions in case of home purchases. These factors drew many young buyers towards investing in real estate along with prospects of excellent appreciation in capital values.
However, the year 2008 brought with it the global recession, uncertainty in terms of employment, lower appreciation in capital values and tightening of terms and conditions for loans. However, things seem to be getting better again. For 2017-18, almost 60% of home purchases from leading real estate developers, as per reports, was made by people under the age of 40. This has increased from 36% in the 2013-14 period. The highest increase is for the age group below 30 although this is still lower as compared to the boom days in the previous decade. People between 31-40 years of age represent the largest buying segment as per studies. These are buyers who have comparative stability in their professions with work experience of at least 5 years and most of them have already been married for 2-3 years according to these studies.
The growing shift towards younger property buyers can be due to multiple reasons. In the current scenario, disposable income and spending power have gone up for younger professionals. The real estate market is more stable after major reforms and policy changes.
Additionally, real estate developers are now making properties more affordable by lowering apartment sizes. Demand is expected to increase for affordable and smaller sized apartments in the near future. More real estate developers are now focusing on the affordable and mid-range housing categories and are looking to attract younger buyers in larger numbers. However, most studies point out that younger property buyers are now returning to the Bangalore real estate market. A large chunk of this buying population is made up of end-users.
