When you take a house on rent, you need to put some amount as security deposit with the owner. In some cases, it is one month’s rent while some ask for three months’ rent. This amount is returned after you vacate the house, subject to the condition of the house you handover to the owner.
A recent report by NoBroker has showed that a whopping Rs 1.26 lakh crore are deposited to the owners in six major cities like Mumbai – MMR, Bengaluru, Delhi – NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.
NoBroker, an Indian proptech company and real estate platform that allows users to buy, sell, or rent properties in its study said Mumbai with Rs 41,156 crore and Bengaluru with Rs 31,628 crore have the most amount of money locked in a security deposit amongst the cities surveyed.
It said that 75 per cent of Bangalore tenants believe a high security deposit has, at some point, stopped them from moving into a home they liked, among the highest of any major metro.
Further, in Delhi-NCR, nearly 58 per cent of tenants got their last deposit back in full after the expiry of the lease. Nearly 30 per cent of them saw deductions, and only around 12 per cent faced a significant dispute.
In Mumbai, 25 per cent of tenants spend more than half their income on rent. Further, another 15 per cent in the 41–50 per cent band, meaning roughly four in ten Mumbai tenants direct over 40 per cent of their earnings toward housing.
The report highlighted that as the buying gets costlier relative to renting, many aspiring homeowners are being locked into prolonged tenancy, not by preference but by arithmetic.
Changing tenant behavior:
As per the report, the tenant behavior is also changing. The NoBroker report said that the Gen Z tenants switch homes roughly 1.5 times more often than older cohorts, compressing the rental cycle in a way that landlords are still adjusting to.
Among tenants aged 18–24, 30 per cent move every six to twelve months, against around 10 per cent of those aged 35 and above. As tenants get older, stability returns: the majority of those over 55 stay put for more than three years at a stretch.
Rs 1.26 Lakh Crore Deposited As Security With Property Owners Across 6 Metros Cities
