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The demand for homes in the city peripheries continues to remain strong -- with at least 42 per cent respondents preferring to buy a home there.

Even while daily life has reached near normal (like the pre-pandemic) with schools and most offices reopening, homebuyer preferences haven't really altered in the first half of 2022.

A consumer sentiment survey by the Industry body CII and Anarock said that homebuyers still prefer to live in the peripheries probably because of their inclination towards bigger and affordable homes there. This could also be because many offices have opted for a hybrid work model presently where employees have to work from office only on a few days of the week.

"Many IT/ITeS employees can continue to work from home for two or three days in a week. Therefore, the previous 'gold standard' of Indian housing -- the walk-to-work or short drive to work, by definition only in and around the central business district and secondary business district -- seems to have shed much of its popularity. Moreover, the availability of ample green spaces in projects in the periphery is another draw for majority prospective homebuyers," it said.

The pandemic significantly altered consumer preferences and there grew a demand for larger spaces across top cities. And, despite the reopening of offices and schools and life returning to near normalcy now, this demand continues, said the survey report.

Notably, for the first time ever, in a major trend reversal demand for 3BHKs has outstripped that of 2BHKs. As per the current survey, as many as 44 per cent respondents prefer to buy a 3BHK while 38 per cent are looking for 2BHKs. In a previous survey (H1 2021), at least 46 per cent preferred 2BHKs while 40 per cent voted for 3BHKs. Further, demand share for 4BHKs has also risen -- from 2 per cent preCovid to 5 per cent during Covid period and to 7 per cent in this survey. This clearly indicates that demand for larger spaces is here to stay for some time, it said.