73% Urban Indians can afford (to buy) a new home: Ipsos

Securing an appreciating asset like a home is very citizen’s dream. How does India stack up when it comes to affordability in buying a home? Happy tidings for the sceptics. According to a new global survey by Ipsos titled, Real Estate Affordability, at least 73% of urban Indians polled said that they can afford to buy a new home in the local property market or the realty sector.

Ashwini Sirsikar, Country Service Line Leader, UU (Qualitative Research), Ipsos India, is not surprised, "We see a boom in the realty sector in terms of premium to affordable housing projects that have come up and are in the pipeline, wooing urban dwellers with frills. Further, low interest finance schemes provide, easy repayment options, and is also likely to provide an impetus to this sector. However, due to the slowdown in the economy, offtake has not matched the expectations of the realty firms. Supply sort of outstrips demand. Due to the number of scams in the realty sector in the last few years, people are in a wait and watch mode.”

Best markets for home buying and the markets where home buying is a distant dream.

The survey shows that the top markets which have affordable homes in good supply, for buyers are China (74%), India is second in the pecking order (73%), Saudi Arabia (61%), US (55%) and Peru (55%). And markets with lack of affordable homes (or least affordable homes) and which are at the bottom of the heap, include, Hungary (16%), Japan (17%), Serbia (19%), Poland (25%) and Argentina (32%), among others.       

Interestingly, emerging markets account for seven of the top 10 countries, where most say they can afford to buy a home.

Indians who said they cannot afford a new home (27%) were not permanently pessimistic. 72% of them said, it was a temporary feeling and not a permanent one.