Tech workers' return to office boosts house rents
BENGALURU , MUMBAI : Home rental costs in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune rose as much as 30% in the last nine months as tech companies brought staff back to offices, and are expected to rise another 10-12% in the year ahead, Anarock Property Consultants said. 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.
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