With property values almost doubling and EMIs covered by rent for buyers who invested in real estate from 2020 to 2023, many aspiring homeowners on Reddit believe these buyers just got lucky while they missed the bus.
Netizens who are yet to buy into real estate are of the opinion that they’ve missed the bus, ‘the ship has sailed’, and that the rapid price growth witnessed between 2020 and 2023 is unlikely to repeat itself
As property values nearly double and EMIs are covered by rent for those who invested between 2020 and 2023, many aspiring homeowners on Reddit feel that these buyers just got lucky while they’ve ‘missed the bus.’
Netizens who have yet to invest in real estate believe the ‘ship has sailed,’ with the rapid price growth seen between 2020 and 2023 unlikely to repeat.
“I keep seeing posts from people who bought real estate during 2020–2023, flexing how their 2BHK or BHK doubled in value, how rents are covering their EMIs, and how it’s the best decision they ever made,” a Redditor wrote.
Netizens say that a 3BHK that costs over 2.3 crore today was valued at ₹1 crore a couple of years back. The rapid price growth seen between 2020 and 2023 is unlikely to repeat, and what once looked like a smart investment now feels out of reach for many, they say.
“But let’s be real for a second, you got lucky. You bought when interest rates were at historic
lows, prices hadn’t shot up yet, and developers were practically begging people to buy. A 3BHK from a reputed builder for under 1 Cr? That ship has sailed,” the post said.
The post noted that big gains in real estate have already happened. Not everyone today can or should spend ₹2.3 crore on a flat just because someone who bought earlier says, ‘real estate always wins.’
“If you made a good or lucky investment, that’s great. But don’t make others feel bad or push them into risky decisions just to copy something that worked only at a very specific time,” the Redditor noted.
Did post-COVID investors take risky bets?
A few buyers say that between 2020 and 2022, many real estate investors made what were seen as risky decisions at the time, and those decisions paid off.
“The market was uncertain. The first wave of COVID-19 hit in 2020, followed by a severe second wave in 2021. During this period, salaries in the IT sector saw a sharp jump, rising by 50% to 100% in some cases, as employees continued working from their hometowns and saved most of their income,” he said.
But by 2023–24, many people had returned to the cities, with higher incomes, and entered a real estate market that had limited new supply due to the slowdown.
The Redditor wrote that those who bought early were not just lucky—they acted when the outlook was unclear, and the rewards followed.
Is 2029 the next best time to buy property?
Some Redditors believe that the real estate market is currently in the slowdown phase of a long-term asset price cycle.
“According to this view, the next strong buying opportunity may not come until around 2029. For now, prices are expected to remain stable at current levels, with little room for sharp increases. Over time, inflation is likely to catch up, and as incomes and costs rise gradually, today’s prices may begin to seem more reasonable again,” the Reddit user added.