Studio apartments worst hit by Covid-19

Hyderabad: The overall supply share of studio apartments, among the hottest-selling configurations before the pandemic, has been dipping across the top seven cities in India since 2020, as per a latest survey by real estate consultancy Anarock Group. The share of studio apartment projects showed an increase from 4 per cent in 2013 to 19 per cent in 2019 and now the trend reversed.

Out of 1,063 projects launched in January-June (H1) 2022 across these cities, only 91 projects (9 per cent) offered studio apartments. In contrast, of the 1,921 projects launched in 2019, around 368 (19 per cent) had studio apartments. In 2020, the share was 15 per cent at 130 out of 884 projects launched in the year, while 145 out of 1,207 launched projects in 2021 had them.

"The studio apartment configuration - single rooms serving as bedroom-cum-living room with kitchen and an attached bathroom - was among the most popular configurations before Covid-19," says Anuj Puri, Chairman - Anarock Group. "Once seen as ideal starter homes, they drew considerable demand from bachelors, young couples, and travellers visiting the city frequently."

"The rapid reversal of this trend after the Covid-19 is indicative of the major socio-economic changes that have occurred due to the pandemic," says Puri. "Of 2,102 projects launched in the top seven cities in 2013, just 75 projects had this option. After that, their availability in projects grew consistently, peaking at 19 per cent in 2019."

2020, the first and most devastating pandemic year, kickstarted the work-from-home culture - and the ensuing demand for bigger homes. Simultaneously, CBDs and SBDs lost their appeal to the cheaper suburbs and peripheries. In a single year, studio apartments' presence in new supply sank to 15 per cent, to 12 per cent in 2021, and to 9 per cent in H1 2022.

The studio apartments trend is historically the strongest in West India, with MMR and Pune predominantly driving the trend. Of the total projects with studio apartments launched in the top 7 cities during 2013-20, MMR and Pune together accounted for a massive 96 per cent share. In contrast, the southern cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad never really caught the studio apartment wave - just 34 projects in these three cities had this compact configuration in the same period. In H1 2022, of 91 projects offering studio apartments across the top 7 cities, MMR is at the top with 71 projects, followed by Pune with 18 projects. The pre-pandemic years saw studio apartments being offered not just in MMR and Pune but in other cities as well. As such, their supply share decline after the pandemic is remarkable.