HYDERABAD: The promise of vaccine, fading fear of the pandemic and the need for work-from-home friendly houses pushed the demand for real estate in Hyderabad immediately after the lockdown was relaxed. The city’s office space transactions took a massive leap by a substantial 640 per cent in Q4 of 2020 compared to Q3 2020, revealed a report by Knight Frank India. In addition to this, sales for the residential real estate market in Hyderabad jumped up by 127 per cent in Q4 2020 as compared to Q3.
With news of disbursement of the vaccine coming in, companies have started securing their office spaces by implementing their lease plans. With increased business activity visible from Q3 2020, and the year-end closing, have together contributed to the surge in the volume of Q4 2020 transactions.Samson Arthur, branch director-Hyderabad, Knight Frank India, said, “The office segment got a booster with Goldman Sachs announcing its Hyderabad entry during Covid. With the presence of Amazon’s Data Centre, inquiries in this segment have also increased. Going forward, new sectors such as automotive and electric vehicles show great promise.”
The report stated that residential home sales were recorded at 5,260 units in H2 (second half of year) 2020. Key contributors to the increase in residential demand in H2 2020, particularly Q4 2020, include festive season promotions and the Covid-induced push for newer homes with better layout, thereby accommodating the new requirements of work from home and digital learning arrangements for kids and working parents.
Despite the supply challenges owing to the Covid-induced lockdowns and mass exodus of labour in Q2 and Q3 2020 across Indian markets, Hyderabad’s office market recorded the second-highest annual supply numbers in 2020. Close to 0.8 million sq m (8.7 mn sq ft) of new office space entered the market in 2020, which is much higher than the decadal average of 0.4 million sq m (4.6 mn sq ft) for a year.
Suburban Business District (SBD), with Hi-Tech City and the Hyderabad Knowledge City at Raidurg, continued its dominance with a sizeable 83 per cent demand share, the highest in the H2 2020 transactions pie.The second-highest share, i.e. 16 per cent, was accounted for by the Peripheral Business District (PBD)-West at Gachibowli. West Hyderabad alone accounted for 99 per cent of the total H2 2020 transactions volume, which is indicative of the strong occupier preference for this region of the city.