Housing demand, which hitherto has remained dominant in the top 8 cities of India, is gaining momentum in Tier II & Tier III or ‘shadow cities’ with the trend becoming more prominent post the nationwide lockdown according to Housing.com. As per the Think Piece titled ‘Time for Internal Globalisation – Small Cities Setting the Tone for Revival’, the online platform observed a surge in virtual residential demand from ‘shadow cities’ (Tier II & III cities). The recently launched Virtual Residential Demand Index states that the demand from small cities had been increasing steadily but saw a significant spike in August 2020. Overshadowing the metros, the index jumped to 210 points for ‘shadow cities’ compared to 150 for the metros post the nation entering into Unlock Phase 4.0. Reverse migration of the corporate workforce and increased flexibility due to remote working is one of the key drivers cited for this surge in virtual residential demand. Cities such as Agra and Amritsar witnessed an impressive growth of more than 100 percent in the virtual residential demand over pre-COVID times, while cities of Vadodara, Ludhiana, Mangaluru, Chandigarh and Lucknow saw more than 80 percent growth in residential demand in the same period.
