HYDERABAD: Though the trends indicate that average apartment sizes were shrinking year-on-year since 2016, it is still highest in Hyderabad when compared to the other top cities. In fact, at 1,750 sq ft it is approximately two times bigger than those in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), where average sizes continue to be the lowest at 932 sq ft, according to an ANAROCK report.
As per the study, conducted by ANAROCK Property Consultants, 2017 saw the maximum yearly decline of 13 percent on average apartment sizes in the top seven cities against the preceding year — from 1,440 sq ft in 2016 to nearly 1,260 sq ft in 2017. A fairly sudden change in consumer preferences in the backdrop of Covid-19 exigencies in 2020 first halted, then reversed the ‘honey, I shrunk the flat’ effect.
Anuj Puri, Chairman of ANAROCK Property Consultants, says: “The two main reasons for apartment sizes reducing in previous years were affordability and millennials’ preference for low-maintenance homes. Keen to generate more buyer interest with smaller price-tags, developers whittled down their flat sizes. 2020 saw an almost immediate reversal of buyer preferences. With the accent suddenly being on accommodating the WFH and learn-from-home culture, flat sizes began increasing for the first time in four years.”
Indian developers were quick to catch on and the second half of 2020 saw average apartment sizes in the top cities increase by about 10 percent. MMR and Pune, with the smallest average flat sizes, saw the maximum YoY increase in 2020 — by 21 and 12 percent respectively.