Housing rents have surged by a substantial 25–30 percent in top micro-markets within major cities since 2019. Meanwhile, the average monthly rents for residential properties have experienced a notable uptick of 15-20 percent across major top 8 cities compared to the pre-pandemic era of 2019. This surge in rents has contributed to a modest enhancement in rental yields. Despite these positive trends, there remains a considerable gap to bridge when compared to global real estate hubs such as New York, London, Dubai, and Singapore, as highlighted in a report by Housing.com.1

Not only median rents, but there is a surge in demand for renting a home post pandemic as indicated by Housing.com IRIS index. The index which gauges upcoming demand by tracking the online search activity on the platform, indicates that post pandemic the online rental search activity has surged ahead of buying activity. Currently, the IRIS index for rent is trending 23 points higher than the buying index.

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• 1. Housing.com latest report titled ‘Residential Rents on the Rise! A report on rental property in India’ shows the growth in monthly average rent has been higher than the appreciation in capital values. While property prices in top cities saw a 15–20 per cent growth compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019, average monthly asking rents skyrocketed by 25–30 per cent, with certain key localities in service sector dominant cities witnessing significant rent spikes exceeding 30 per cent during the same period.