The country’s residential real estate segment is witnessing a decisive return of serious enquiries, which are now at 50% of pre-Covid-19 levels in the top cities. Recovery is fastest in Bengaluru, where current enquiries have reached 70% of the January-February period, followed by Gurugram with nearly 65%.

“Despite site visits far from the previous levels, the site-visit-to-closure conversion rate has increased considerably as only serious buyers are venturing out, with casual window shoppers fairly dormant currently. Hyderabad now sees an average of 15% site visits converting to sales, against 8% in the pre-Covid-19 period. Gurugram, with just 4-5% conversions earlier, is now clocking in at 8-10%. Other cities report similar trends.” Prashant Thakur, director & head for research, at Anarock Property Consultants says.

In terms of the preferred budget range, homes priced between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1.25 crore now attract a major chunk of the post-Covid-19 buyer enquiries. Bengaluru, Chennai, Ghaziabad and Noida are seeing maximum traction for homes in the under-Rs 1 crore budget. Gurugram is seeing maximum enquiries for properties priced from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1.25 crore, for flat sizes 1,400-1,600 sft built-up area. MMR is witnessing enquiries for homes priced within Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore, for property sizes between 400-800 sft carpet area.