Gurugram is the most suitable city to live in during COVID-19 times considering factors such as population density, open area ratio and hospital infrastructure, a new report by Square Yards titled Suitability Index: The COVID Perspective has said.
The study throws light on the suitability of living and working in three prime cities in the country, namely Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gurugram with respect to COVID-19.
The report ascertains the suitability of these cities on the basis of factors such as population density, open area ratio and hospital infrastructure. It says that these are far more important than the distance from work or affordability to decide where a homebuyer wants to live during COVID-19.
As per the analysis, Gurugram is the most suitable city to live from a COVID-19 perspective. Suitability in the city was defined more by the population density, open area ratio and the number of hospitals. As per the report, localities in the East zone such as sectors 52-56, 58, 40-44, 30, 24-27 were found to be the most suitable for living as per the index.
Even though the density of COVID-19 cases in this zone was second only to the North, presence of maximum number of hospitals/10K people, more than 40% open area and lowest population density made the area most suitable and hence livable from the COVID-19 perspective, the Index said.
As per the analysis, Mahadevapura, was the most suitable zone in Bengaluru. Some of the localities in the zone were Bellandur, Devasandra and Marathahalli.
In Mumbai, localities in the N and PN wards, which largely form the Western suburbs and the Central suburbs were found to be most suitable.
As per the data, both Mumbai and Bengaluru offer only 1.3 and 0.30 hospitals per 10,000 people respectively, while Gurugram outshines both the cities with 2.5 hospitals for every 10, 000 people.
Mumbai had 13 of the total 24 wards severely affected with more than 50 cases per 10,000 people. In Gurugram, the North and East zones averaged 55 cases per sq km while in Bengaluru 4 zones of the total 8 zones recorded more than 200 cases per sq km.
In Bengaluru and Mumbai the suitability index of different zones was largely influenced by two parameters namely the population density and the number of COVID-19 cases.
Contrary to the common notion, the report suggests that Mumbai has the highest Open Area ratio amongst the three cities at nearly 45%. Mumbai was the most densely populated with nearly 60,000 people/sq km while Gurugram had the lowest population density at approximately 4200 people/sq km.
“The Suitability Index is an attempt to bring many non-transaction elements to the forefront that can have an impact while making a home buying decision. The ‘new normal’ is here to stay and the idea is to look at factors other than proximity to work or affordability that impacts the choice of residence,” said Anand Moorthy, Business Head – Data Intelligence & Asset Management Services - Square Yards.