As fears grow that artificial intelligence could disrupt software jobs, a Reddit debate has revived a familiar question in Bengaluru’s property market: what happens to real estate if the city’s IT engine slows? The discussion was sparked by remarks attributed to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who suggested that software engineers could become ‘largely obsolete’ within a year.
Several Reddit users warned that such a shift could weigh on housing demand. “A lot of real estate is funded by people working abroad and earning in dollars,” one commenter noted, adding that fewer overseas opportunities and the need for engineers to reskill could have a ripple effect on property purchases. The flip side, they argued, is that housing may become more affordable for local buyers who do not earn in foreign currency. Others, however, expect not a crash but a transition to slower, more stable market growth.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, during an interactive session at the World Economic Forum, had warned about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on jobs. He said he thinks AI could do the work software engineers currently do in 6 to 12 months. “I have engineers within Anthropic who say I don’t write any code anymore. I just let the model write the code, and I edit it. I do the things around it,” Amodei said.
Redditors say that the property cycles in Bengaluru and Hyderabad have long been tied to IT hiring, salary growth, and the steady inflow of global capital. “All future growth in the city is predicted today based on IT parks coming up and gated communities alongside them,” the Redditor wrote, asking whether a hiring slowdown or layoffs could derail this model.
Others urged caution against doom-laden predictions. Drawing parallels with earlier tech disruptions, one Redditor said, “Before the dotcom bubble, people said kirana stores would disappear. During Covid, everyone said online education and OTT would kill classrooms and cinema halls. Old ways change, but new jobs and adaptations emerge.”
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Dollar incomes, AI automation and housing demand
Several Redditors, however, flagged risks that could weigh on housing demand. “A lot of real estate is funded by people working abroad and earning in dollars,” one of them noted. “With fewer people going overseas and software engineers needing to reinvent themselves, there will definitely be an impact.” The upside, they said, is that housing could become more affordable for local buyers who don’t earn in foreign currency.
A K-shaped property market may emerge
Some Redditors argued that a slowdown would not crash Bengaluru’s housing market but would instead reshape it. “Property sales here are still commodity-driven; buyers are extremely sensitive to price per sq ft,” one of the Redditors said, adding that, unlike Mumbai or NCR, ultra-luxury homes rarely command outsized premiums.
That, however, could change. “Most sales today are in the ₹3–5 crore range. I see a shift towards more ₹1–2 crore housing and a thin slice of ₹7 crore-plus ultra-luxury homes,” the user wrote. Affordable housing, they said, may grow only at core inflation levels of 4–5%, while luxury real estate could offer higher returns but with sharper downside and liquidity risks.
A Redditor described the situation as a potential ‘K-shaped’ outcome for both the software industry and the housing market, where the impact would not be uniform. According to him, demand and prices could diverge sharply based on factors such as skill levels, income stability, access to dollar-linked earnings and buyers’ appetite for risk, creating clear winners and losers within Bengaluru’s real estate landscape.
Also Read: Will Bengaluru real estate market be impacted as tech layoffs impact tenants and buyers? Experts weigh in
How will Bengaluru real estate be impacted?
Bengaluru’s sharp post-pandemic rise in home prices was not driven by speculation alone but by a delayed adjustment after nearly six years of muted growth, according to Sunil Pareek, executive director at Assetz.
Between 2014 and 2020, residential prices in the city grew at a modest 3–3.5% annually, even as household incomes improved and buyer expectations evolved. The pandemic, he said, accelerated long-pending purchase decisions, leading to a sharp catch-up in values. “After years of flat pricing, the 60–70% jump we’ve seen post-Covid was a correction rather than an anomaly,” Pareek said.
While the technology sector has seen layoffs and hiring caution, Pareek does not anticipate a decline in property prices. Instead, he expects the market to shift into a slower, more stable growth phase. “The pace of appreciation seen over the last three to four years is unlikely to continue, but I don’t foresee a freeze or a correction either,” he said.
Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.