BENGALURU: The latest edition of the Magicbricks and IIM-Bangalore Housing Sentiment Index (HSI) shows that home owners are expecting a rise in real estate prices over the next six months across the 10 cities which form the survey.
The index, which is based on an online survey of prospective home buyers after screening has shown a drop in Bengaluru for the first time in a year.
The value of HSI can range from zero to 200. A score of 100 represents neutrality, meaning people do not expect house prices to either increase or decrease. A score of 200 indicates that all respondents expect house prices to increase. A score of zero indicates that all respondents expect house prices to decrease.
The drop is by 13 per cent and the current index score stands at 124, the report says. However, for the first time, the index score across all cities surveyed was more than 100.
A recent decision to hike property guidance values which was announced last month is cited as one of the reasons for the drop in the HSI score. However, the report also says that property prices in the city remain largely unaffordable. Around 68 per cent of the respondents surveyed from Bengaluru live in rented accommodation and 24 per cent of those surveyed prefer to purchase land instead of built houses in the city, the report shows.
Further breaking down the demographics, the study shows that 35 per cent of the respondents were from South Bengaluru which saw a 19 per cent drop in the HSI while 25 per cent were from east and south east Bengaluru which saw a 14 per cent drop in HSI.
Bengaluru North, with 28 per cent respondents saw the lowest drop with 4 per cent with an HSI of 133.
Around 47 per cent of the respondents were comprised of buyers within the age range of 30 to 39 years with those in the 40 to 49 age bracket forming 17 per cent of those surveyed. Almost 43 per cent of the total buyers said that they wanted to buy within the next six months while 31 per cent said they could wait more than a year.
The `20 to `40 lakh range of properties continues to be in demand with 27 per cent of surveyed respondents saying that they wanted a house within this budget, 24 per cent said they wanted to buy property costing between `40 to `60 lakh. More details from the report are available online.