India Real Estate – A Historical Genesis and Contributions

Historically Indian real estate as an industry was disorganized till the 1980s. With the advent of Asian Games in 1982, real estate in India was seen as an industry having the potential to deliver. Since then the real estate website in India has not looked back. The initial concentration was on the residential sector; Indian real estate got a boost with the advent of IT industry in the 1990s. There was a sudden requirement of IT Parks and specialized accommodation, cities like Bangalore, Noida, Gurgaon and Mumbai witnessed extensive development of office space and IT parks. This was followed by the tier 2 cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur and Ahmedabad in 2000s. 

The concept of retail spaces or outlets and malls also got a boost when DLF undertook large scale development in Gurgaon in the late 1990s. The model was then replicated in other cities as well. These developments ushered in the latest technologies in this sector from across the world and the actual potential of Indian real estate sector came to the fore. 

The construction of IT parks and malls etc. not only led to job creation in the IT and retail domains but within the real estate sector as well. This led to migration and exodus of population from smaller towns to the larger business centric cities; this suddenly resulted in the shortfall of Residential property in India with high demand and almost nil supply. The real estate sector realized the opportunity and concentrated its efforts towards the residential sector; Tier 1 and 2 cities in India saw large scale construction of residential apartments; as there was a paucity of land packets within the city boundaries, there was a two dimensional expansion; the cites started to expand on ground as well as vertically.

Then came the ecommerce revolution and the medical tourism around 2009. This brought in the demand for office space, warehousing and specialized accommodation for hospitals and medical care. As the demand for medical tourism increased the hospitality industry got a push and requirement for all kinds of hotels went up. All these developments kept the real estate sector in India on its toes, with no time for introspection and planning.

Somewhere down the line real estate industry in its exuberance and fast tracked development lost the basic tenet of planning, market surveys, demand v/s supply models, which led to rampant, ill planned construction; driven more by availability of resources rather than by demand.   The real estate developers started riding on huge egos; a feeling set in that the demand is infinitely large and therefore the end user will have nowhere to go but queue up at their doorstep; therefore, the sector could get away with anything. As they say ‘time does catch up’ and that is what happened, over a period the supply was higher than the demand and the end user got alienated with the head strong attitude of the developers. The real estate sector went into a slow-down phase since 2013, three years down the line things are still not looking up. The real estate trends in India has learnt its lesson the hard way and we hope it makes amends in the right direction.

Real estate Websites in India – Need to Share accountability

Real Estate websites in India primarily act as information portals and provide referral material. As an end user one has to review information on two to three such websites in order to be sure that it is authentic.

Some real estate developers also have their own websites; however, these are seldom updated and hold sketchy details. Thus, despite there being a number of property websites in India, an end user is still struggling to get the required information. This lack of transparency in the age of digital technology is harming the real estate sector more than anything else.

Whenever an end user gets different sets of information from separate real estate websites, it generates a doubt towards the authenticity of the same and the user is not sure which one to rely on. To add to this dichotomy, developers are also not forthcoming in sharing information and want to keep it close to their heart, following the old paradigm of trade secrets. It needs to be understood that in this digital era, sharing of information is empowerment and lends credibility to the real estate sector. Trying to conceal information only increases the trust deficit. Real estate websites in India need to strive to provide complete, authentic and verified information, with regular updates and highlighting the latest status of projects. Real estate websites in India need to be more accountable in case they are looking at playing a serious role in the real estate sector in India.

The real estate sector in India is going through a slow-down and struggling to recover; one primary factor which is further adding to its pain point is the property websites in India, which are unable to understand their role and responsibilities in the recovery cycle.  These websites need to understand that they are very much a part of the Indian real estate ecosystem and cannot treat themselves to be outsiders, having no accountability but only a share in the revenues. In this period of slow-down real estate websites in India need to exploit their ingenuity and come up with ideas which would help the sector to recover faster, rather than be fence sitters.

Real Estate Perspective of Chennai

Chennai has been one of the hot real estate destinations of south India. It was known as a traditional, conservative, slow moving city till a few years back. Known mostly for its port, automobile and manufacturing sector, Chennai has changed its status from a historical town to a throbbing metropolis in quick time. This turnaround has primarily been due to inroads of IT industry into the city.  Being the capital of Tamil Nadu it has always enjoyed a special status in southern India. It is the fourth largest city in India and has the third largest expatriate population.

One of the biggest contributors towards the development of Chennai has been its political stability. The population has always cast a decisive vote towards a stable setup. The ongoing election results of Tamil Nadu, giving a decisive victory to AIADMK are a testimony to this fact.

Real estate in Chennai remains a key economic driver in the state’s economy. The city has witnessed a steady growth of real estate sector, sparked by the IT boost; which has led to a heavy inflow of migratory population.

Real estate in Chennai had traditionally a requirement of warehousing, industrial houses and connected commercial space due to the presence of manufacturing and automobile sectors; these sectors also contributed towards the demand for affordable housing. With the advent of IT industry and MNCs setting up offices in Chennai the demand for office space, commercial upscale market places and mid segment and luxury residential space. As the footfall to the city has increased with the presence of MNCs the hospitality sector has also expanded, in turn giving the real estate sector further boost in Chennai.  

Residential property in Chennai traditionally was plot based, however with a surge in requirement for residential space in specific areas, the city conveniently shifted gear to multistoried construction and high rises. The city is expanding west and southwards at a very fast pace, engulfing the nearby towns and villages. The development of the RG IT Expressway, ECR, Outer Ring Road has enhanced the scope of real estate developments in Chennai.  The city traditionally has not expanded much towards the northern side. The ORR, Bypass Road, RG IT Expressway and ECR provide a linear connectivity southwards; a number of roads like inner ring road the 200 feet and 100 feet roads provide lateral connectivity. This meshed intersection of roads has led to the creation of residential pockets in the city, which provide ideal connectivity to an end user; enhancing the real estate potential of Chennai.

Property rates in Chennai have taken a setback due to the unnatural floods of 2015, which highlighted the limitations in the city planning. However, it needs to understood that it is difficult to plan a city which can withstand all kinds of natural or man-made calamities and Chennai is no exception.