Online property buying picking up
Online space is projected to be the very important medium for property buying. Until now it was restricted to checking designs and prices of properties. However, it may take a few years before online property buying becomes as common as purchasing clothes, electronics or books by the click of a mouse. Real estate companies inform that there has been a surge in web transactions of late.
Tata Housing is betting big on online space’s potential. A Harikesh, senior vice-president (marketing and sales) at Tata Housing informs that Tata Housing and Tata Value Homes (a subsidiary which is into affordable homes) have sold over 400,000 sq ft through 450 apartments online with sales value of over Rs 350 crore. According to him, it is very economical to reach out to customers using this medium. Non-resident Indians (NRIs) and high net worth individuals (HNIs) can be very well target using online medium, he points out.
Every year, according to Google, as many as eight million people search for real estate information online in India and the volume of real estate-related queries is growing at the rate of 35 per cent year-on-year. Half of such queries are made with the intent of purchase. The most-searched city for real estate-related information in 2013 was Mumbai, followed by Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata.
Experts say that the online space helps in connecting the owners with potential customers and helps in elimination of intermediaries. However, the share of online property business in the overall realty market in the India is still very small but is expected to grow 15-20 per cent in the next couple of years. The industry estimates show that people in the age group of 30-45 years do most searches and the property price varies from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
Source: Business Standard
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