For retail investors, the wisest decision is investing in a home

While intending buyers decry the rapid rise in real estate prices, investors are on Cloud Nine. It’s actually quite interesting to note how the same people who first complained about how expensive homes in India have become go on to exult about how nicely their properties are appreciating once they have bought them.

The simple fact is that investment into residential real estate is today the wisest route that a retail investor can take.

Show Me The Data

When it comes to equities, bonds, commodities and currencies, one can rely on global trends and domestic data to take investment decisions. Decoding data and trends into an investment strategy is the very basis of success in all asset classes. However, when it comes to real estate — the largest and most preferred investment asset class in India — smaller investors seem to rely almost exclusively on hope, faith and belief. The information available is usually fragmented, and its reliability for providing indications on returns are comparable to that of monsoon predictions.

Data points are crucial, but they become relevant only when they are backed by ground intelligence and based on multiple parameters. For instance, an interesting picture emerges when one considers how India’s young population is driving the consumption story. This story has, in fact, been driving most of the domestic business sectors for the whole of the last decade.

Two Faces Of Consumption

In this light, let us consider the

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