A staggering ₹1.26 trillion has been locked away as security deposit with property owners across the top 6 metros - Mumbai-MMR, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, according to a recent study by NoBroker. As reported by NoBroker, Mumbai leads with ₹41,156 crore followed by Bengaluru at ₹31,628 crore in terms of the most amount of money locked in security deposits among the cities surveyed.
Rent represents the single largest line item in most urban tenants' monthly budgets, with nearly half of them consuming more than 30% of their monthly income, according to the NoBroker report. In Mumbai, 25% of tenants spend more than half their income on rent, with another 15% in the 41-50% band, meaning roughly four in ten Mumbai tenants direct over 40% of their earnings toward housing. The structural affordability gap is reshaping rental markets, with the EMI-to-rent ratio climbing across major cities since 2021.
Tenant behavior is evolving significantly, with Gen Z tenants switching homes roughly 1.5 times more often than older cohorts, as reported by NoBroker. Among tenants aged 18-24, 30% move every six to twelve months, compared to around 10% of those aged 35 and above. The majority of tenants over 55 stay put for more than three years at a stretch. 75% of Bangalore tenants say a high security deposit has, at some point, stopped them from moving into a home they liked, among the highest of any major metro.
Investor economics in the rental market are tilting decisively toward compact formats, with 1BHKs and studios delivering higher rental yields than larger configurations in every city measured, according to the NoBroker report. Bengaluru at 4.8% and Hyderabad at 4.6% are among the top cities where rental yields are maximum, while the yield curve falls steadily as unit size grows, dropping below 3% for most 4BHKs. Delhi-NCR shows 58% of tenants got their last deposit back in full after lease expiry, with 30% seeing deductions and only 12% facing significant disputes.
