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.  

Real Estate or Property Websites in India – Technology and Partnership Model

The ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Startup India – Standup India’ campaigns have generated a lot of enthusiasm not only in the Indian industry but all across the Globe. We have all the major IT giants like Facebook, twitter, Google, CISCO and the latest being Apple CEO Tim Cook lining up to meet the PM and promising to dole out new ventures and participate in the above programmes. Google has already signed an MoU with Indian Railways for establishing free WiFi connectivity at 500 railway stations. All these initiatives are indicators of how technology is going to steam roll into India in the next few years. After all a 1.2 billion populations is by no means a market to be overlooked.

The impact of this tech-invasion, if we may call it so, is all dependent on how different industries respond to it. Whichever industry or sector is able to grab the initiative; think out of the box to exploit these government programmes with a ‘digital’ foresight will rule the Indian market. One thing is for sure that the internet penetration in India is going to increase exponentially in the coming years.

Real Estate sector in India is one such sector which needs to seize this opportunity. Real Estate property websites in India are examples of business models implemented without technological backing or forethought. They have been there but doing the same thing, or at best repackaging old formats. There is a huge scope for Real estate websites in India to exploit these new initiatives and drive transparency in the real estate sector in India, which has been its single point of failure.

Property websites in India have an opportunity to lead the way and pull out the real estate sector from its present slow-down. Indian Property websites need to get away from the age old features of listings and sale-purchase business models. Analytics, virtual reality, big data are the domains where the real estate websites in India need to focus.

For this to happen the real estate sector needs to partner with Indian real estate websites to create a platform, which exploits technology to enable decision making models for the market. Real estate websites in India need to exploit technology to revive user or investor confidence to a level where it starts to contribute towards an effective business model. If the real estate sector is looking for the recovery cycle to start anywhere soon, it needs to take the real estate websites on board at the earliest.

The opportunity has presented itself and if the Real estate property in India is unable to leverage the potential, then it has nobody else to blame but itself.