In conversation with Anarock Property Consultants chairman Anuj Puri, International Business Times, India learned various changes in the real-estate sector, especially on the residential side and the changes that COVID-19 pandemic could bring about in the home designs. With the work-from-home culture becoming a norm in the past couple of months during the lockdown, people had a lot of time to reflect on the importance of utilising the available space effectively.
In view of that, Puri warned that developers who do not realise the importance of transforming houses will be at their own peril.
"The customer over these past few months has gone through a lot of mind change. For the first time, everybody has lived locked up for so many months and discovered that maybe we need a little bit more area. I think the product definition, which was on the square foot is going to move to a design side.
Smarter home designs are the way forward
Sharing one such experience with smarter design, Puri recalled seeing a house with a higher ceiling. The purpose of that was to see if the bed can be lifted to stand vertically during the day time to utilise the space for lounge or study. In the evening, the bed could be pulled down.
Making note of an important aspect, Puri said the disposal income isn't going to go up, yet there is an increase in the desire to buy a home. The only way to address this demand is to remodel the product by thinking on the lines of "how do I squeeze the ticket size so it becomes more palatable to the home buyers while meeting their full requirements."
Developers are actually investing time on such ideas instead of going with their gut. COVID-19 is certainly going to bring about some unforeseen changes to home designs, keeping in mind the utilisation of available space effectively.
You can watch the entire interview below:
