17 November 2020 01:42 am
Although Sri Lanka continues to be impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the country’s real estate sector remains largely unaffected despite the shocks faced by the economy, a study revealed.
The findings of a study carried out by LankaPropertyWeb showed that despite the spike in the virus’ spread, the real estate sector in the country continues to operate positively.
“There has been a rather minimal impact on the views and leads on the site during this lockdown compared to the first,” said LankaPropertyWeb.
The minimal effect of COVID-19 on the real estate sector was concluded by analysing and comparing the number of visitors visiting the realtor’s website during the first week of the initial lockdown imposed in March and the last week of October.
The number of hits on the website increased by 153 percent and 115 percent in the two periods.
The analysis periods also saw the number of advertisements increase by 289 percent, whereas the page views increased by 139 percent.
LankaPropertyWeb stated that the most searched areas for properties were in Colombo, particularly Colombo 5, 6 and 7, Kandy, Dehiwala and Wattala.
“There was also a unique increase in searches for cultivated lands, especially for coconut and tea lands. This bears evidence to the growing internal agriculture industry that is reviving despite the pandemic,” the real estate agency shared.
LankaPropertyWeb shared that the highest lead generation was achieved in October as well, reaching a peak of 100,000.
“This was an outstanding record for this year,” it said. The House Price Index of LankaPropertyWeb showed that during 2020 (between 1Q and 3Q) the prices of houses, apartments and lands have remained stable in Sri Lanka, unlike in countries such as Canada, where the housing prices plunged and is expected to further dip by 7 percent.
LankaPropertyWeb said that with repatriation in progress and the need for housing growing every day, it is less likely that the Sri Lankan real estate market will experience a downturn similar to countries such as the UK, Singapore, etc.
“By making use of this opportunity and investing in real estate now, you can increase your ROI as the market picks up further in the future,” it said.