Tech workers' return to office boosts house rents

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro have asked their employees to attend office thrice a week, while Infosys wants them in roughly 10 days a month. HCL’s senior management must attend office thrice a week, while junior to middle order are on work from home mode but nudged to come to office more.

“In the IT/ITeS hubs, including Gurugram, we may see rents go up anywhere between 10-12% over the next one year. It may also go up further, depending on the hiring scenario by the IT firms. With several IT firms now calling their staff back to work, rental demand soared in these cities so much that a demand-supply mismatch arose in key societies, which eventually led to a surge in rents," Anarock chairman Anuj Puri said.

During the covid lockdowns, many tech workers left cities to work from locations closer to home, reducing rental demand. As demand rose, many also moonlighted.

Given the severe attrition and competition for talent, companies largely ignored the trend. However, hiring has cooled since, and employers are pressing employees to attend office.

Suresh Rangarajan, founder and CEO of Colive, a shared living startup, said the requirement to attend office regularly means employees will not be able to live in their home towns any longer, raising housing demand in the cities.

“We have seen huge demand in the last three-six months, and it is only going up. Rents will continue to inch up as demand is high and there is limited ready supply of rental homes in most cities," he said.

Colive, which has 60% tenants aged 26-29 years, has seen highest demand for ‘solos’ or single rooms (with workspace area) and CBHK or couple bedroom-hall-kitchen, which are small studio apartments.

The younger workforce will be looking at co-living spaces and rental accommodations near the IT hubs leading to a spike in the already heated home rental market. While rents are likely to inch up further, there could be a supply crunch of adequate ready rental homes on the back of high demand.

“Tech corridors in both Bengaluru and Hyderabad continue to see good demand for rental homes, particularly in gated communities. As office parks fill up, we are seeing increased demand. Rents remain non-negotiable," said P.V. Reddy, who owns and rents out multiple apartments in east Bengaluru.HR heads say younger workers who joined straight from colleges did not get the opportunity to understand the workplace culture and improve inter-team working. This is the same age group which is more likely to seek rental accommodation near workplaces.

While homebuying is also seeing a huge boom in major cities, property prices are on the rise. As a result, living on rent is the first and obvious choice for young professionals whether single or married.