Proximity to Workplace, Dominates Home Purchase Decision of Delhiites: OLX- Kantar TNS Study

New Delhi, 18 December 2017: With growing population in metro cities, commuting within the city has become a time consuming task for citizens. This has led to the emergence of ‘Walk to Work’ culture in metros, wherein people are looking for homes in proximity to their workplaces to save time and money in their daily commute.

A study by OLX, leading online classifieds platform and Kantar TNS highlights that home buyers in Delhi NCR prefer to purchase a property in proximity to their workplace, a trend emerging among the millennial homebuyers in the capital.  Kantar TNS, a leading market research, interviewed people in Delhi NCR looking to buy a home in the next six months, and sought to understand the user behaviour in an evolving real-estate market of Delhi NCR.

According to the study, 50% of all the interested homebuyers in Delhi NCR want to buy a home, which is in proximity to their workplace. Closely followed by 48% of the respondents, who said that they want to buy a home for investment and security, and 45% percent looked at better amenities (gym, swimming pool among others). Other factors such as, gated society for better security, more space, proximity to school for kids and shopping places are desired by Delhiites when planning to buy a home.

Said Irwin Preet Singh Anand, COO, OLX India, “The report helps us in recognizing emerging consumer trends in the real estate market. Delhi NCR is one of the fastest growing markets on our real estate section, with one third of the buyers seeking ready to move inventory, particularly in the NCR pockets closer to commercial hubs in Noida and Gurugram. In the last six months, buyer interest has significantly jumped for mid-range 2 & 3 BHK properties among the working class, a ripple effect of the cut in home loan interest rate announced this year.  Further, Government reforms like GST and RERA will reduce the tax burden on consumers and increase consumer confidence, encouraging them to invest in the sector. Combination of these initiatives is likely to increase transactions in the Real Estate industry in 2018. As we step into the New Year, our aspiration is to double our growth in the category.”

OLX is one of the largest online Real Estate marketplace in the country with 3 lakh+ live listings, and more than 30 lakh registered property seekers. Besides individual sellers and buyers, OLX has more than 12,000 agents, who deal in primary, secondary and rental properties across 100+ cities, the widest reach by any real estate portal.  Listings on OLX grew at 55%, and property seekers grew at 70% in the last quarter, a comeback since the implementation of Real Estate Regulatory Act.

Another key finding of the study revealed that online platforms are one of the most used sources of information for property search by people in Delhi NCR. Buying a home requires immense amount of research, almost four out of five respondents said that they are using online property portals for information and leads, and half the respondents said that online property platforms were their primary source for information and leads.

Said Sachin Hajela, Associate Vice President, Kantar TNS, “The study explores preferences of home buyers in key cities across the country, and highlights the increasing adoption of online platforms in the property purchase journey of consumers.  We found that the benefits of online in handholding a property-seeker in the initial journey of shortlisting a property, contacting a seller/ broker has resulted in online becoming the starting point for 80% of property seekers. Replete with property choices, online also proves to be the most preferred search avenue amongst digitally evolved property seekers of Delhi NCR.”

Search Trends On OLX: What Delhiites Are Looking For?

Top Searched Locations

OLX Users from Delhi NCR are actively looking for properties around these four popular real estate clusters:

Dwarka, one of the most searched location for apartments; its proximity to Gurugram’s corporate hub makes it an attractive destination for working population looking for apartments with more space, proximity to school, metro and local market.

Gurugram, Sohna Road covers a large segment of rental real estate in Gurugram, a popular destination for millennial working population who are looking for ready to move accommodation near their workplace.  Sohna Road is the most searched location from Gurugram on OLX followed by Sector 49 and 57, known for its prime residential gated community with direct connectivity to metro and shopping malls.

Greater Faridabad, also known as Neharpar is a popular location preferred by property seekers looking for ready to move apartments and houses.  The cost benefit of lower rent and property value as compared Delhi makes it an attractive location for big size 4 to 5 BHK houses. Popular pockets in Greater Faridabad covers Sector 75, 77, 81 and 84.

Noida, is catching up in popularity for ready to move in flats, consumers here are seeking for safe investment opportunities after delays in certain projects on the expressway.  Sector 12 and 49 in the interiors are the most searched locations for homes, while Sector 121, 63 and 73 are popular for builder flats.

Most Searched Categories

Demand for ready to move apartments are highest in Delhi NCR, with one third of the property seekers searching looking for one. Followed by 25%, browsing the platform for independent houses, 17% seeking for builder floors, 15% interested in land/ open plots, while the remaining 10% are looking for commercial space on OLX.

Most Popular Unit Size

Furthermore, the data shows that mid-size 2 -3 BHK apartments are in high demand on the platform. Smaller units as opposed to 4 BHK are more popular among nuclear families, independent working professionals and students. Almost 60% of the searches are for 2- 3 BHK apartments in Delhi NCR, the remaining 30% are for 4 BHK and 10% for 4+ BHK.

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About OLX- KANTAR TNS Study

The study included qualitative and quantitative research across 4 cities Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Trivandrum. A stratified sampling methodology was used to identify 600 sample size across the 4 cities. The sample identified was Male, in the age group of 30-55 years, belonging to SEC A households with an annual income greater than 8 lakhs and are regular internet users i.e. use internet on smartphone/Tablet/Laptop at-least once a week. The research was designed to accomplish the following objectives i.e. understanding the current experience/ usage behaviour of property buyers, understanding of buyers – expectations from property sites and uncovering category needs / need gaps.