Online searches for housing properties pick pace in June: Housing.com’s IRIS

Online searches for residential properties picked up pace in June 2021 over the previous two months with Delhi-NCR getting maximum traction indicating speedier rebound in the real estate sector as the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic abated, according to Housing.com‘s IRIS.

IRIS (Indian residential index for online search) is a monthly index that tracks potential buyers’ activity in primary and secondary residential markets on the Housing.com portal. It has been created with the objective of giving an in-depth view of buyer activity in India by tracking 42 key cities driving the residential market.

IRIS inched up 9 points MoM in June after a slowdown in online searches for residential properties during April 2021 and May 2021.

“Compared to the past year, national online demand is up by 26 points Year-on-Year, despite a similar lockdown situation in both periods. As per our research, both online and offline trends hint at a speedier bounce back from the impact of the second COVID wave, compared to the bounce back from the first wave last year,” said Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Housing.com, Makaan.com & PropTiger.com.

As suggested by IRIS trends, the demand in Tier 2 cities has recovered more quickly than in the top-cities, demonstrating resilience during the pandemic, added Mr. Agarwala.

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“The entire idea behind the launch of IRIS is to present the online residential demand dynamics in a comprehensible format to various stakeholders. In the absence of well-defined data sources, the index brings forth macro and micro level real estate market insights through the knowledge gathered from the search activity of millions of potential homebuyers on the Housing.com platform.,” said Mani Rangarajan, Group COO, Housing.com, Makaan.com & PropTiger.com.

The index shot up in June 2021 on the back of opening up of lockdowns as active COVID-19 cases subsided. The demand uptick in June 2021 and the ebbing of the second wave of the pandemic indicates a rise in demand in the coming months.

The buyer demand in India is currently 18 points below the historic peak in September last year since the start of the data analysis. The demand was 27 points lower in May 2021 than the September 2020 peak.

Delhi-NCR tops in searches. Lucknow and Jaipur make it in the list of top 20 cities.

The Delhi-NCR region (Gurugram, Noida, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad) witnessed maximum online demand by potential homebuyers in June 2021 to secure the top position on Housing.com’s Dynamic Demand Progression Score.

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Delhi-NCR also jumped a rank up between May and June 2021. Among the cities of the region, Greater Noida followed by Faridabad clocked maximum buyer activity during June. Within Greater Noida, Noida Extension, Surajpur and YEIDA were the most searched localities. The online trends mirrored the offline trends as seen in PropTiger’s report ‘Real Insight (Residential) April-June 2021.

Hyderabad and Ahmedabad rose one and two ranks up in the index, respectively, while Pune and Kolkata were down in June over the previous month.

IRIS further revealed that Ludhiana and Amritsar registered the highest jump in ranking compared to the previous month. People appeared more interested in independent homes in these two cities of Punjab. In Ludhiana, the localities of Haibowal Kalan and Dugri saw maximum virtual demand in June 2021.

Lucknow and Jaipur made it to the top 20 cities replacing Dehradun and Agra.

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