Pandemic-hit year record the “Highest Rental Transactions in a Decade”

2021

THE YEAR WHEN UNCERTAINTY BECAME THE CERTAINTY www.simplease.in

A quick recap of the Mumbai Residential Rental market in 2021 The year 2021 was a very unique year for the Mumbai Residential Rental market. If one viewed the year 2021 as a whole, the overall rental transactions have grown phenomenally and are 4% higher than the rental transactions in the pre-covid levels of 2019.

However, the monthly data would reveal significant fluctuations driven by the spike in Covid outbreak.

This pattern is reflective of the fact that intermittent disruptions due to Covid have been accepted as a given and individuals / organisations are now taking real estate decisions discounting any restrictions / lockdowns that may be imposed.

Key highlights [A] HIGHEST RENTAL TRANSACTIONS IN A DECADE The rental transactions in 2021 were the highest since 2012. The total rental transactions were at 259,941 which were 40% higher than 2020 when the market was severely impacted by Covid for the first time. These are higher by 4% compared to the precovid levels of 2019.

Leave & License Agreements in Mumbai 300,000

200,000

100,000

0

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2021

[B] HIGH TRANSACTIONS INDICATIVE OF OPENING UP OF HOUSES We believe that the surge in transactions is reflective of organizations reducing their preference for “Work from Home” and asking the employees to rejoin offices.

[C] RAPID SHIFT TOWARDS DIGITIZATION While e-registrations had picked up in the last few years, the switch has become predominant with the outbreak of Covid.

The e-registrations now constitute 88% of the overall rental transactions. % OF LEAVE & LICENSE REGISTRATIONS 100%

OFFLINE REGISTRATIONS

75%

E-REGISTRATIONS

50%

25%

0%

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2021

What to expect in 2022?

We believe that the year 2022 will not be much different from 2021. While we are already seeing a surge in the spread of the Omicron variant which could stifle activity in the near months, we expect the demand to remain strong nonetheless.

We also do not rule out future intermittent restrictions going forward as well. We are optimistic on the demand based on our conversations with several organizations with respect to opening up of their offices. This activity had already started in November 2021 which is reflected in the exceedingly strong numbers in December 2021. Given the recent spike in COVID cases, we expect the organizationS to delay the plans by a month or so. However, we are confident that we will see a larger proportion of work force resuming offices soon.

We are also enthused by the record fund-raising in the startup ecosystem which will give further boost to hiring and consequently relocations.

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