Chennai ranks fairly low on the radar in terms of residential real estate market. The city’s residential space absorption is only 20 million sq ft as compared to 120 million sq ft in some of the other major cities, said Ranjeeth Rathod, Executive Committee Member, CREDAI Chennai.

He was delivering the theme address, ‘Real Estate Reloaded - Emerging Trends’ at 10th Surana & Surana Knowledge series organised by Surana & Surana International Attorneys.  

Rathod, who is also the managing director of Chennai-based property development firm DRA Homes, said shallowness of the market, low preference by migrants, limited land availability, approval delays, absence of big airport as compared with other cities are some of the reasons for the city’s dismal performance in residential real estate index. “A lot of demand has shifted to other cities,” Rathod added.

He said Chennai needs to position itself as a better market, migrant-friendly city, and add new airports to boost its position in the residential real estate space. “We need a single window clearance so approvals are quicker and money turnaround for developers are faster,” he added. 

In his welcome address, Sanjay Mehta, Partner, Surana & Surana International Attorneys, said there is a strong resurgence in the real estate sector post the Covid-19 pandemic and a lot of available inventory has been taken up due to pent up demand. 

Citing studies, Mehta said Indian real estate is predicted to be a $1 trillion industry contributing 15 per cent of the country’s GDP. 

He also said from conventional homes and offices, the Indian real estate sector has been adapting to the changing times and added newer asset classes such as shared assets, flexible workspace, co-living, fractional ownership to name a few. 

Speaking at a panel discussion on ‘Co-living & Co-working’, Sanjay Chugh, City Head & Senior VP, Anarock Property Consultants, said, there are 50 organised players in the co-living industry  offering more than 2-lakh beds and this is bound to double by 2025 as more people get back to working from office in larger cities. 

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