New Delhi, Dec 22 (IANS): Around 82 per cent of the people across the major cities plan to buy a residential property in 2021, according to a report by NoBroker.com.

The purchase sentiment among the people last year was 64 per cent. The report titled 'India Real Estate Report 2020' showed that 89 per cent of people consider the current phase to be the best time for buying a house.

It showed that more than half of these potential homeowners indicated a preference for society flats (61 per cent) over independent houses (28 per cent) or plots (11 per cent).

Around 84 per cent of home owners wanted ready-to-move-in or resale houses.

The survey showed that budget continued to remain the most important determinant in terms of choosing a property. The percentage of people looking to buy a house price over Rs 80 lakh has jumped substantially with almost 30 per cent buyers having this budget as compared to 17 per cent last year.

Distance from the workplace, a top factor from last year, saw a decline in the 2020 in the wake of the 'work from home' culture, as per the report.

The insights were derived based on a survey conducted across Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad.

Speaking on the latest findings, Saurabh Garg, Co-Founder & CBO, NoBroker.com, said: "After surviving the peak of a global crisis and sluggish economy for the last 9 months, it is refreshing to see homebuying gaining prominence amongst Indian consumers in 2021."

He said that the pandemic has driven many changes such as a need for larger houses, suburbs gaining prominence, switch to digital modes of rent payment and larger number of people starting their home search online.

"People have realised the importance of security provided by physical assets in crisis situations and the home loan rate cuts and builder discounts have helped. These trends indicate a favourable environment for the real estate sector in 2021," Garg said.