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Real estate continues to be the preferred asset class for investment in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, but majority of homebuyers want discounts along with flexible payment options as an incentive, according to the Housing.com and NAREDCO survey.

The real estate portal conducted the survey during January-June this year on more than 3,000 consumers.

According to the survey findings, real estate is the preferred mode of investment for 43 per cent (35 per cent last year) of respondents, followed by stocks 20 per cent (15 per cent last year), fixed deposit 19 per cent (22 per cent last year), and gold 18 per cent (28 per cent last year).

"The health crisis has reinforced the importance of home ownership across the world. As a result, the residential real estate market is not only witnessing fresh demand from first time homebuyers but also from a lot of consumers who are upgrading to bigger apartments," Housing.com Group CEO Dhruv Agarwala said.

"This demand increase generated post Covid, aided by rock bottom housing prices and historically low interest rates on home loans, has helped residential real estate developers to successfully navigate through the tough economic situation caused by this pandemic," he added.

NAREDCO President Niranjan Hiranandani said: "Value of owning a home has been reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis with the renewed preferences. Integrated township living will garner traction as it offers holistic lifestyle all at one-stop destination and also offers work near home opportunities."

As the economic recovery is scaling up gradually against backdrop of festive tailwinds, buoyant capital markets, softening of home loan interest rates, record high foreign reserve & FDI increasing employment rate and optimistic demand impetus, he said that a slash in GST and tax benefits will go long way in strengthening sustainable demand and built on signals positive consumer confidence index for H2 FY 21-22.

Among other key findings, the majority of the respondents (71 per cent) feel that flexible payment plans, and discounts will provide much-needed financial aid during current times and drive them to make purchase decisions.

Strong housing sales in Maharashtra's two key markets -- Mumbai and Pune -- suggest that stamp duty reduction by the state government did play an important role in stimulating demand during the September 2020 to March 2021 period.