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Young generation is avoiding buying their own house

Having your own home has always been considered a big dream in India, but today's young generation is changing this old thinking. Millennials and Gen Z professionals are now preferring to live in a rented house rather than buying a house. Instead of paying home loan installments (EMIs) for a long time, they are giving preference to financial freedom. According to data from property platform NoBroker, 46 percent of tenants now consider staying on rent for a long time to be a better option. These include 53 percent people aged 25-34 years and 48 percent people aged 35-44 years, who clearly say that they will continue to live in a rented house instead of buying a house.

Rent is cheaper than huge EMI

The biggest reason behind this changing trend of youth is house prices and their financial burden. Home loan installments in major cities have become more than double the rents there. If we look at the figures, in the last five years the 'EMI-to-rent ratio' in Gurugram has increased from 1.86 to 2.68. Same is the situation in metros like Bengaluru (2.38), Hyderabad (2.47) and Mumbai (2.19). This simply means that the monthly installment to buy a house whose rent is Rs 50 thousand is becoming more than Rs 1 lakh. In such a situation, instead of investing money in lump sum down payment and heavy EMI, the youth are investing that amount in the stock market and mutual funds. A 31-year-old software professional from Bengaluru also believes that instead of paying an EMI of Rs 1 lakh every month for the next 20 years, it is better to invest that money so that one can have the freedom to change cities as per one's career.

No compromise with lifestyle

Now living on rent has not become a compulsion but a conscious decision. The youth are not living on rent just because they cannot buy a house, but they want to improve their lifestyle. Today the demand is shifting towards bigger houses, gated societies, fully furnished apartments and premium residential projects. Despite high rents in Bengaluru, the demand for 3-BHK flats is more than their supply. At the same time, according to data from NoBroker, about one-third of the total rental demand in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is from houses whose rent is more than Rs 40,000 per month. In the words of a marketing professional from Mumbai, owning a home is definitely a goal, but for this they do not want to compromise their financial freedom.

Changing career is also a big reason

The changing career graph of the youth also plays a big role in this whole picture. Frequent job changes, hybrid work culture, skyrocketing property prices and increasing awareness about financial planning have forced professionals to postpone the decision of buying a house. They do not want to buy any permanent property until they are completely clear about where they want to settle in the future. Due to this trend, the rental market of cities is also becoming very strong. The highest annual rent increase of 11 percent has been recorded in MMR. It is followed by Chennai (8 percent) and Bengaluru (7 percent), while Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR have seen an increase of about 3 percent in fares.

Vibhav Shukla

Vibhav Shukla is currently working at TV9 Hindi as Senior Sub-Editor on Business Desk. He has six years of experience in journalism. Vibhav is originally from Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. He started his career with Rajasthan Patrika. After this he has been associated with prestigious institutions like Inshorts and Gujarat First.

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