Why Suburbs Are Getting More Clicks From New-Age Workers

When Mumbai-based working professionals Mallika Jain and her husband Rajan Jain decided to buy their dream home, they looked towards suburbs. Their home at Dombivli, with its two large bedrooms and a large American style kitchen, overlooks the hills and is closer to picnic spots for trekkers.

The area, however, is about 60 kms from Mumbai's central business district. But the couple has no complaints. Mallika works from home for her Delhi-based investment company and travels to the national capital once a month. While Rajan has to travel 45 kms to reach his office, he has to do it only twice or thrice a week.

“We could never afford a home close to my office in the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Instead of going for a smaller home closer, we chose to spend the same amount in the large 2BHK in Dombivli. Our home spreads over 1,200 square foot and we are very happy here,” Rajan said. Their travel expenses, the couple cheerfully adds, have also come down.

The advent of Internet and the rise of a new generation that prefers to work-from-home might make distance from work inconsequential when it comes to choosing a property. Instead of spending hours each day to travel to work, executives prefer to travel out-of-station for a couple of days and work for the rest in their bigger idyllic homes in the suburbs.

This trend of remote working has already become popular with information technology companies in India. Flexibility in work timings has extended to a change in the mode of work and is fast becoming a part of the work culture.

If this changes, the traditional ways to value a property like proximity to a subway or a bus station and availability of necessary transportation modes might change, too.

Internet and property prices

The speed of Internet is finally making an impact on prices of property and the choice of a location. If this manner of working becomes more prevalent, home buyers might prefer to live in remote areas with better social infrastructure; the home's proximity with the workplace may stop being the decisive factor for buyers.

Internet speed in an area might become a determining factor for property prices. A study by a team of researchers from Imperial College Business School and the London School of Economics (LSE) suggested that home buyers are willing to pay eight per cent above the market price for areas that have good broadband connectivity. For real estate players in India providing a good connectivity may become a crucial point along with roads and other forms of infrastructure.