The COVID pandemic has created a ‘new normal’ situation for the rental sector in India as with every other sector. The pandemic has redefined the context of rental business and it has affected all the players in the rental sector viz – house owner, tenant and the real estate consultants. For each of these players, this pandemic has been the perfect time to review their priorities, needs, and risk level.
For the tenant, the tough economic situation is forcing to think about opting for more affordable homes and flats. Also, their needs are changing. The remote working scenario gave many professionals the option to move from cities and towns to smaller towns and villages back home. For these professionals, the need for having an area for Work From Home (WFH) will be as important as the other expectations of a home. Additionally, the rental location with good internet connectivity for adults working from home throughout the week or for children taking online classes, are also important criteria while deciding on renting a flat or house.
Since this scenario is giving opportunities to house owners in the suburban areas and smaller towns, to get rental income, they have better prospects to reach prospective tenants if they have online platforms such as 1 sqft.com to be visible to prospective tenants and rental consultants. The COVID-related social distancing constraints have forced tenants to opt for online searching rather than physical home hunting.
A key factor that will weigh on the mind of the house owner is to have confidence about the tenant’s ability to pay the rent consistently during this period of salary cuts and tough business situations.
Therefore, the owner needs to look for a credible online platform for registering and looking for prospective tenants, in case the existing tenant is leaving due to factors connected with the pandemic. Again, this is where our 1sqft.com digital real estate services helps.
Houses with more amenities even if they are compact spaces, with value propositions such as WFH compatibility, connectivity features will be more in demand. Those owners who go for furnishing their flat/house with required amenities will be more in demand and visible on well-established platforms like 1 sqft.com etc.
The current uncertain situation has also led professionals and salaried people to postpone their home buying plans, thereby giving a good opportunity for the owners to convert or remodel their existing spaces to become suitable rental units.
Even for the real estate consultants, the pandemic has changed the very context of their way of doing regular business in a big way. Determined consultants who are seeing this as an opportunity by making use of the online and digital platforms for their business will reap good rewards. The social constraints imposed by pandemic such as social distancing and physical travel limitations, will have more prospective tenants to move to credible online home hunting mode. Those Consultants who make use of such digital online platforms such as 1 sqft.com are best suited for the prevailing situation after COVID.
Sindhu Vijayakumar is a tech, business, and creative content writer and marketing solutions provider, who has been helping several B2B and B2C companies with their content and marketing (including digital marketing) needs. She has been guiding startups with marketing content initiatives, both internal and external, across multiple platforms and formats to drive sales, engagement, retention, leads and positive customer behaviours.
An MBA in Marketing and Sales, she loves crafting engaging business and digital content for businesses. As a professional content writer who is comfortable writing on technology, she has been providing writing services to many software and technology organizations, including mobile app development companies.
A gold medalist in journalism, before turning to freelance, she was a full-time journalist with The Hindu, The Times of India and Sulekha.com, and for over a one-and-half decade, she had published hundreds of articles on communities, urban development, lifestyle, wellness and parenting trends. As an accomplished radio programmer, she had propelled the south FM stations of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, to exceptional heights.
A Research Scholar in Management, her special interest areas are startups, tech, application development and small businesses. She has published several papers on communication in national and international journals and is also a published author of fiction and poetry.