Amid the COVID-19 scare, real estate prices in top eight cities observed a 2-9 percent decline in April as an immediate reaction to the crisis, but the overall price decline recovered in the April-June quarter to just a 1-5 percent decrease across Tier I cities. Cities that experienced a higher price decline also saw an increase in consumer demand, the Magicbricks’ Propindex Report Q2 2020 stated.

Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru, which were India’s best-performing markets in the pre-COVID-19 phase, witnessed the maximum price decline, but the least drop in consumer demand, indicating that homebuyers are now active in these markets and are looking for exciting deals.

Gurugram and Noida in the National Capital Region (NCR), which were already facing headwinds for quite some time, resisted downward pressure on price, the report said.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) fared slightly better as compared to other regions despite being worst hit by COVID-19. The average price decline was in the range of 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent.

Magicbricks’ Propindex Report Q2 2020 claims that the property buyer market sentiments are on the path to recovery, with buyer searches on its property portal set to surpass pre-COVID levels, indicating robust underlying fundamentals on the demand side.

“India’s real estate sector is on the road to recovery. Prices have shown a marginal decline, whereas demand has been steadily coming back. Actions have been taken by the government on the recovery package and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced repo rates by more than 100 basis points since the lockdown. This augurs well for the industry. Our data suggests that search activity is almost back to pre-COVID levels,” said Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks.

In Delhi, prices dropped across most budget categories, with the highest price decline witnessed in premium properties costing more than Rs 15,000 per square feet. In Q2 2020, affordable houses, especially two and three BHKs, which cost below Rs 10,000 per sq ft, witnessed better traction compared to other configurations, making up for a substantial three out of four property searches in Delhi, the report said.

In Bengaluru, a 2.8 percent QoQ price decline in the ready-to-move segment washed away gains made during the previous six quarters. However, demand for 1 BHK and 2 BHK configurations is likely to further shoot up due to reduction in stamp duty for properties costing up to Rs 35 lakh.

In Chennai, the residential market clocked a 2.3 percent YoY growth, but the recent pandemic brought a 3.1 percent decline in prices in Q2 2020. Still, 87 percent of the city’s demand falls under the 2 and 3 BHK configuration, showing domination of mid-segment consumers

In Mumbai, most price segments (across price brackets) witnessed a price decline for the quarter, but affordability played a major deciding factor for buyers in Mumbai, with houses below Rs.10,000 per sq ft making up majority of the demand.

Real estate regulators will write within a week to the RBI, seeking one-time debt restructuring for the industry to help developers overcome the liquidity issues, Uttar Pradesh RERA Chairman Rajive Kumar recently said.

Industry bodies CREDAI and Naredco have been demanding one time restructuring of developers outstanding loans with financial institutions to prevent bad loans and making them eligible for fresh borrowings.

Addressing a webinar on Saturday, he said the decision to extend timelines for completion of projects by six months has been taken for the benefits of homebuyers and ensure customers get possessions of their flats.

Kumar asked developers not to impose any penalty on homebuyers for any default in payments of their installments during this coronavirus pandemic.

“One big issue faced by the industry is liquidity challenge for quite some time,” he said, adding that many stalled projects do not qualify for getting last mile funding from the Rs 25,000 crore special window created by the government.

All India Forum of Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (AIFORERA) has decided to take up the issue of one-time debt restructuring with the RBI, said Kumar, who is the Chairman of this new association.

He informed that the forum will write to the Reserve Bank of India in the coming week.

The UP-RERA chief was speaking at a webinar organised by property magazine Realty & More and public relation firm ICCPL on completion of three years of realty law RERA.

Kumar also warned builders to comply with the orders passed by the authorities, else it would be forced to take action as per the provisions under the law.

On hombuyers grievance that builders got relief from regulators and not them, the UP-RERA chief said the extension of timeline for projects completions would ensure that flat owners get keys of their dream home.

He, however, suggested that the government’s development authorities and financial institutions should be brought under the ambit of RERA to make everyone accountable.

Bhutani group CEO Ashish Bhutani said the RERA has brought transparency in the real estate sector and the developers do not have to make extra efforts to market products to prospective buyers, especially NRIs.

RERA expert Venket Rao said the complaints of home buyers could rise due to the current pandemic and efforts need to be made to resolve them amicably.

Delhi/NCR

With only 126 empanelled structural engineers and 32 lakh buildings in the capital, the project for conducting a structural safety audit of city buildings in the coming six months faces an uphill challenge.

In an on-going case in Delhi High Court, the municipal corporations had admitted that 75% of buildings in Delhi are without sanctioned plans. While the process to issue notices to schools and housing societies has been rolled on by the building departments, many are worried that the scale of the task cannot be accomplished under the existing plans.

Atul Goel who head URJA, a collective body of Resident Welfare Associations of Delhi, said the strategy adopted by the civic body is faulty and officials who allowed the problem to reach current levels, be held accountable. "Why are they playing with the lives of people? There is no monitoring and accountability in the system."

Goel said a similar proposal of safety certification was proposed when the current master plan had come into effect but nothing came out of it and all provisions were diluted layer. "very time the court cases come, municipal corporations carry out these antics and try to create a diversion. Everyone forgets it for a while and the problem keeps growing in size," claimed Goel.

There have been over a dozen minor earthquakes over last two months in the city and adjoining areas. Goel wondered how it was possible for a few engineers to check and certify lakhs of buildings.

In an affidavit filed before the court, civic bodies had admitted that "only about 25% of the corporation areas in Delhi fall within the planned/approved areas while the rest, about 75%, is unplanned and unauthorised."

Arpit Bhargav, the petitioner in this case, doesn’t seem convinced with the civic body's plan either. "90% of Delhi is seismically not compliant. There is a disaster waiting to happen and authorities are sleeping. If there are 32 lakh buildings on record and if we consider the nominal figure of 50 lakh dwelling units, are 126 engineers capable of carrying out the survey?" he questioned.

Even though the municipal corporations have provided the relaxation of using engineers and experts working in government institutions, the human resource is still not enough. Senior civic official said that besides empaneled-structural engineers, people can also approach experts working in government institutes, IIT, DU and AICTE-approved institutions.

Bhargav, however, disagreed. "Even if we add some professors from universities, about 200 people would be available. Can 200 engineers and experts cover 50 lakh dwelling units? How many years would it take? It's not possible and everything remains on paper," he claimed.

Paras Singh, TNN, Delhi/NCR

Panaji

Reduction in necessary paperwork, extension of existing licences beyond six months and a quick approval process would help improve the real estate sector, said Credai Goa.

With the Covid-19 pandemic disrupting the economy, Goa wing of Credai on June 29 submitted a list of problems faced by the sector to the government.

The suggestions, said Credai President Nilesh Salkar, are aimed at increasing ease of doing business, speeding up approvals and kick starting the economy.

Salkar also said that the price of raw materials, which are largely procured from Mumbai, has risen 23%. Developers said the costs will most likely be passed on to home buyers.

"The lengthy processing method which needs to be shortened in order to save time," said Salkar.

According to Salkar, the multiple compliances enforced by the town and country planning department, forest department and village panchayats make construction activity tedious.

For starters, Credai has questioned the need for repeated approvals from the government and local governing bodies every time a revision is made to a project.

Credai has pointed out that even if a project is within settlement zone as per the Regional Plan, an approving committee, along with the forest department and agriculture department, still needs to check the property zoning.

Permission to cut trees is another major cause for delays with Salkar saying that permission is a hassle to obtain. "Government approval to cut more than 100 trees in approved and converted land is unnecessary and results in delay and double work. And why do we need approval to cut trees, which the department is encouraging to cut like Acacia?" said Salkar.

While government bodies have granted an extension for all regulatory approvals granted, Credai has said that the licences should be extended further.

"We need extension in the licence duration because after TCP approvals comes electricity, PWD, conversion sanad, health, pollution board, village panchayat and then RERA registration which take approximately six months therefore leaving available time for construction under the original approval of only two and half years which invariably is not enough," said Salkar.

"If all the above issues are resolved then it will result in removal of unnecessary paperwork, speeding up of construction, completion and handing over possession of homes to buyers and speeding up of revenue receipts by government," said Salkar.

Source: The Times of India, Panaji

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) a statutory authority under the ministry of railways responsible for the development of vacant railway land, is targeting to issue tenders worth Rs 10,000 crore in 2020-2021 and eyeing revenue of Rs 3,000 crore, top sources in RLDA said.

RLDA issued tenders worth Rs 3,500 crore during 2019-2020 and the total earnings was Rs 931 crore.

"While our target is to issue tenders worth Rs 10,000 crore in 2020-21 against Rs 3,500 crore in the previous year, a  sum Rs 3,000 crore is expected from these prime plots. The plot in Kolkata alone is expected to generate Rs 800 crore as it is along a riverfront," said Ved Parkash Dudeja, vice chairman of RLDA.

The rest would be generated from prime commercial and residential plots located in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi.

RLDA awarded lease contracts worth Rs 1,553 crore during the financial year 2019-2020. The huge increase in leasing activity was a result of a shift in strategy that focuses on monetising land in Tier II cities.

One of the major deals included a 10.76 hectare land at Ashok Vihar, New Delhi to Godrej Properties Limited for an upfront lease premium of Rs 1,359 crore. Other deals struck last year were to do with land parcels located at Aishbagh-Lucknow (Rs 54 crore), Gwaltoli-Kanpur (67 crore), Etawah in Uttar Pradesh (Rs 5 crore), Vijaywada (Rs 6 crore), Nizamabad-Telangana (Rs 5 crore), Vishakhapatnam (Rs 11 crore), Ayanavaram Chennai (Rs 28 crore), and Amritsar (Rs 15 crore).

Currently, RLDA is working on four type of projects - commercial projects(74 Nos), multifunctional complexes(123 Nos), colony redevelopment ( 84 Nos)and station development( 62 Nos).

62 Railway stations are being redeveloped by RLDA mainly on PPP mode including New Delhi, Mumbai Central and Howrah,Tirupati & Pudcherry Railway stations etc .

These stations are planned for re-development in synergy with Smart City projects launched by the government. Entire cost of station redevelopment will be met by leveraging commercial development of spare railway land/airspace in and around the railway station.

As many as 84 railway colonies with dilapidated quarters are being redeveloped by RLDA after monetising the surplus colony land & use of full FSI as prevailing DCR norms. These are spread over different parts of India including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow, and Guwahati.

Railway colonies are being redeveloped by efficient utilization of FSI/FAR. This is being achieved by redeveloping the railway colony in one pocket and freeing the remaining land parcel for monetisation which is then leased to a potential developer, Dudeja said.

Real estate companies that opted for lower GST rates of 1 percent and 5 percent from April 1, 2019, but could not procure 80 percent of the total supplies from registered dealers, will have to pay tax on the shortfall in such procurement by June 30.

The GST Council had allowed real estate players to shift to 5 percent GST rate for residential units and 1 percent for affordable housing without the benefit of Input Tax Credit (ITC) from April 1, 2019.

However, they were mandated to procure at least 80 percent of the inputs from registered dealers.

Any shortfall in the procurement would be subject to Goods and Services Tax (GST) to be paid by real estate developers at the rate of 18 percent on supplies used as inputs or input services and 28 percent for cement.

In an instruction to Principal Chief Commissioners of Central Tax on June 24, the Department of Revenue said it has been decided that in case of shortfall from the said threshold of 80 percent, the promoter/developer shall pay the tax on the value of input and input services comprising such shortfall and this tax shall be paid through a prescribed form electronically on the common portal by the end of the quarter following the financial year. Accordingly, for the financial year 2019-20, tax on such shortfall is to be paid by June 30, 2020.

The revenue department said it had received requests seeking details of prescribed form on which the said tax amount has to be reported.

The issue referred by the trade has been examined. It has been decided that Form GST DRC-03, as already prescribed, shall be used for making the payment of such tax by promoter/developer.

"Accordingly, person required to pay tax in accordance with the said notification on the shortfall from threshold requirement of procuring input and input services (below 80 percent) from registered person shall use the form DRC-03 to pay the tax electronically on the common portal within the prescribed period," it said.

AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said real estate developers falling under the lower tax bracket of 1 and 5 percent are fraught with massive tax demands for which payments need to be made in cash by June 30 without utilisation of input tax credit.

"Ailing real estate sector was expecting an extension (of due date for tax payment) on account of COVID-19 during these testing times, wherein project receipts have already dried up," Mohan added.

Source: ET Realty, Delhi/NCR

The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has had a debilitating impact on the real estate sector. It is estimated that housing sales plummeted by 81% in the second quarter of 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019 in the top seven markets of the country, according to a report by private real estate consultancy Anarock. Not surprisingly, the National Capital Region (NCR), the real estate hub of north India, also did not witness any new realty project being launched during this period, the report adds.

The seven cities from where this data was collected include the MMR, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

The report says residential property sales across the top seven cities of the country plunged to 12,720 units in the second quarter of this year, as compared to 68,000 units in the same period of 2019.

Echoing a similar view, Gurugram-based developers and consultants said sales were virtually non-existent and that they were finding it difficult to manage even client visits. “There is a lot of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic related to jobs and businesses. The latest tension with China has further added to the woes,” said Sanjay Sharma, a city-based consultant.

The report stated that significant reduction in housing sales were witnessed in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and NCR as business fell by 83% in both areas in the second quarter of this year, compared to last year. The sale of houses in MMR was recorded at 2,100 units while NCR saw only 3,620 housing units being sold since the pandemic reared its head in the country, the report said.

“A massive drop in both new launches and housing sales were, of course, expected on the back of a complete lockdown for most of this quarter,” said Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock.

He however said that some cities, despite being affected by Covid-19, showed a high number of sales, which was due to technology adoption which had helped in housing sales of late, as many developers are now strengthening their digital sales capabilities.

Praveen Jain, vice-chairman of National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco), Haryana said the realty sector in Gurugram as well as across NCR is in rough waters as sales are negligible while projects are getting delayed due to lack of workforce, as migrant workers had returned to their home districts and villages due to the lack of means of livelihood during the national lockdown, imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic.

“The demand for new houses is quite subdued and no new inquiries are coming our way. My own company has been able to sell very few units and whatever sale propositions are being discussed are old leads. A booster shot is needed to revive the real estate sector,” he said.

Delhi/NCR

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) sealed three buildings in DLF-1 on June 23 after construction waste (malba) was found illegally dumped near them.

The construction and demolition (C&D) waste management wing of the corporation has also issued challans to 85 people for violation of C&D waste management norms this month on the basis of complaints from residents and inspections by MCG teams.

A total of Rs 12 lakh has been collected in fines from 49 out of the 85 violators, MCG officials said. The wing has also seized vehicles being used to dump construction waste at unauthorised sites.

"MCG has empanelled two agencies for lifting of waste from construction sites and dumping it at designated sites. Residents who are constructing or demolishing any building may contact these agencies for proper disposal of waste," said a senior MCG official.

The corporation has already released a list of 15 sites in four zones for dumping of C&D waste. These sites are located in Basai, Jail Road, Auto Chowk, Beri Chowk, Vyapar Sadan on Mehrauli Road, Golf Course Road and Wazirabad, among others, he added.

The MCG has already issued warnings that vehicles dumping C&D waste without authorisation will be seized under the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, and violations will be considered as punishable offences. Action will be taken under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, and the Air (Pollution Prevention and Control) Act, 1981. Offences under these acts carry heavy fines and even imprisonment.

The C&D waste management wing was recently directed to ensure that action is carried out in case of violations of the air pollution norms for construction sites, including dust pollution and other environmental violations.

Source: TNN, Delhi/NCR

An Indian-origin landlord from the Southall suburb of west London has been hit with a whopping 16,000-pound bill after the local Ealing Council stepped in to knock down an illegal outbuilding at his property.

Rapinder Sehajpal was told last week that he owes the council more than 16,000 GBP for the demolition of the building, after he ignored requests to demolish it himself.

The 45-square-meter outbuilding had been built without planning permission and then illegally let to a family, the council said.

"This gentleman chose to ignore repeated requests to obey the law, continuing to rent out this illegally-build outhouse. It is totally unacceptable in a modern, civilised society for a cramped building at the bottom of a garden to be used as a family home," said Councillor Joanna Camadoo-Rothwell, Ealing Council's lead member for community safety and inclusion.

"As we have seen in many cases across the capital, illegal outbuildings are damaging to our neighbourhoods and pose a very real health hazard for those living in them. I am therefore pleased to see a robust approach to enforcement in this case, with Sehajpal paying a heavy price for flouting planning regulations," he said.

The demolition came after several rounds of legal interventions by the council over a two-year period were disregarded by Sehajpal, 'Ealing News Extra' reported.

In May 2017, the council's planning enforcement team received a tip off that the outbuilding at the rear of 1 Industrious Cottages on The Common in Southall was being used as a dwelling.

In December 2017, the council issued a planning enforcement notice against the construction of the illegal outbuilding, ordering the owner to stop letting the building and then demolish it.

Sehajpal appealed, saying that he felt the building was acceptable in planning terms. The appeal was dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate in July 2018 and he was given six months to comply with the notice.

On a visit to the site in January 2019, planning enforcement officers found the outbuilding still in place, although it was no longer being lived in. Despite a series of further warning letters, he reportedly failed to comply with the enforcement notice.

Finally, in November 2019 the council had no choice but to demolish the outbuilding and clear the site, which it did within a single day, and has now imposed the costs order for it, the council revealed in a statement on Friday.

The council said it has investigated almost 10,000 planning breaches over the past decade and although many cases can be resolved informally, at times tough action such as demolition is required.

Global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) has projected that office rentals might drop 5-10 per cent on lower demand for office space from corporates because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease will have a short-term impact on India’s office market, with demand likely to fall 45 per cent, said C&W Managing Director (India and Southeast Asia) Anshul Jain.

The net leasing or absorption of office space might fall to 25 million sq ft this year across eight major cities as against 45 million sq ft during 2019, he said.

Jain was speaking at a webinar organised by Workplace Trends India founder Tushar Mittal, who also heads interior design firm SKV.

The other speaker at the webinar was Chris Browne, managing director and head of global occupier services (Asia Pacific) at C&W, Workplace Trends India said in a statement.

“The commercial real estate rental situation at present is very different from the global financial crisis situation of 2008-09, when the supply outstripped demand. We were in an oversupplied situation then, right now we are not in an oversupply situation.

“Having said that, there will be short-term softness in the market and I think the rentals may come down in some pockets between 5 and 10 per cent,” Jain said.

Notwithstanding a likely fall in demand, supply and rentals of office space this year, he expressed confidence that the office market in India would grow in a medium-to-long term.

The de-densification of office space would largely compensate for any fall in demand because of adoption of work from home (WFH) policy by corporates, the consultant added.

Stating that the fundamentals of the Indian economy remain intact, Jain said India might gain eventually and attract more outsourcing jobs because of stagnation or fall in wages and salaries, and dollar appreciation.

On the WFH policy, Jain said the companies would certainly give more flexibility to employees. “Work from home will gain strength, but that may be just 10-15 per cent of the workforce.” Workplace Trends is a platform for industry professionals and leaders on emerging workplace trends world over.

Home insurance policies secure your home internally and externally, which means home insurance is useful in case of any natural disaster. It covers the financial losses on damage or loss of property but one needs to first thoroughly understand which policy is best for your house, type of home insurance policies available, type of risks covered by the home insurance policies, things to keep in mind while buying the chosen home insurance and things that affect your premium payment.

Harsh Roongota, CEO, ApnaPaisa.com, says, "Primarily a home insurance covers two things - one is damage or loss of the home structure and the second is damage to the contents or assets within the house. Suppose there is an earthquake and the building falls, you would need money to reconstruct it, that would be covered by the structure insurance. If there is a fire at home wherein furniture, jewellery, electrical appliances are damaged then that will be covered under content insurance."

In case you want to insure your house both internally and externally then you have to buy comprehensive home insurance. Companies cover more than 11 types of risks in home insurance. Fire, thunderstorm, gas leakage, home appliance explosion, damage from aircraft, collision from crane, landslide, explosion, water tank overflow damage, damage from missile test, wildfire, terrorist attack, goods in a home, laptop, jewellery, camera and many other risks are covered. Premium for insurance depends on the property value.

A number of things should be kept in mind before buying any type of home insurance such as getting proper valuation done of your property. Buying an online policy is cheaper than buying from a broker. Home insurance does not cover the people living in a house. There is no difference in the premium for ground floor or any other floor.

Anil Bansal, Former ED, Indian Overseas Bank, says, "The credibility of a home insurance company is important. One should check the claim payment ratio of the home insurance company. IRDA is the regulatory authority for insurance companies. A good insurance company should be able to process claims faster and transparently."

A buyer should be aware of things that affect the premium payment like in what risk zone is your house located; general features of the house such as construction time, age, wiring, roof strength, previous claims taken etc. While submitting a claim, one needs to take a photograph and shoot videos of the damage and carefully fill all details in the claim form. One might also have to attach a copy of the FIR. The respective insurance company should be informed within 15 days. Aso, if you are selling the house then again you should inform your insurance company, so the home insurance of your house should be cancelled.

Home insurance is an expensive option but it reduces the risk to your house in the event of a calamity. Smart option like group insurance is also available.

Tusheeta Kaushik, Magicbricks Bureau

Banking and payment solutions provider VSoft Technologies has terminated leases for 11 out of its 15 offices pan India post lockdown, while InsideView Technologies has ended the lease on its Hyderabad office housing about 180 people.

In Mumbai, cybersecurity player SEQURETEK has ended the lease on a 50-seater facility, even as Bengaluru-based PromptCloud Technologies has done the same on an additional 3,000 sqft space it acquired just before lockdown and Chennai-based e-learning player HeyMath! is halving its office footprint.

After the Covid-19 outbreak forced the world to embrace 100% Work From Home (WFH) – many small and midsized companies have already started giving up real estate or cutting down on their office footprint. This is not just a belt-tightening exercise. These companies feel WFH makes better business sense.

Arpan Jha, Chief Strategy Officer of PromptCloud, for whom WFH was an absolute no-no, has already made her 60-people big data company adopt the new culture. "Before the lockdown we were skeptical about WFH despite employee demand. We expected people to be in office if they were working. But after Covid-19 forced us to work remotely, we realised things worked pretty well," she explains.

Jha's company is expanding but investing the money saved on realty in tools to track employee output and engaging strategic HR consultants to formulate a detailed WFH policy.

Murthy Veeraghanta, Chairman & CEO, VSoft, says the fact that productivity did not dip during WFH gave them the confidence to terminate leases of smaller offices that housed 25% of the 1,200 workforce. VSoft is now looking for a more compact Hyderabad HQ.

InsideView's decision to terminate the lease on its entire 17,000 sqft office in Madhapur, Hyderabad, last month was just part of the plan to go big on WFH, says board member Sesha Rao.

"Our internal survey showed employees are enjoying the freedom, flexible hours and the fact that they don't have to spend 2-4 hours on daily commutes. We asked ourselves why we are spending so much on a facility when everyone is enjoying WFH," says Rao.

"We always had a high WFH staff as we never viewed it as an HR benefit but an organisational culture of trusting employees. We went 100% WFH from early March," he adds.

Pankit Desai, Co-founder & CEO, SEQURETEK, sees Covid-19 as a blessing in disguise.

"Today, we can hire talent anywhere without getting them to relocate or having to set up an office. Our worries about productivity and customer intimacy too have been proven wrong," explains Desai, who also shelved plans to double office footprint in Bengaluru from 50 people. In the long run, Desai is looking at a 50% WFH setup.

G R Reddy, Founder, Husys Consulting, an HR function management company, says many of their clients are rethinking their real estate strategies with many smaller ones resorting to lease terminations and bigger players looking at renegotiating rentals if not reducing footprint.

But these companies realise that once the Covid-19 threat is over and its business as usual, employees will want to come back to office for collaboration, bonding and celebrations. "That's why we will take a much smaller space but there's no hurry as we expect realty rates to go down," says Rao, who is mulling a 70-85% WFH in the long run.

“If we can reduce costs without impacting productivity, why not? After two and half months on WFH we realised we need only half the space as most employees are enjoying WFH. Once things get back to normal, they can come in twice a week for which a 25-seater space is enough," says Nirmala Sankaran, Founder, HeyMath!, which has 65 employees.

Realtors too admit that WFH is here to stay. It might result in a 10-20% office space reduction over next two to three quarters as companies try to reduce costs but it's only a short-term phenomenon, believes CREDAI National Chairman Jaxay Shah.

Swati Bharadwaj, TNN, Hyderabad