There was a time when real estate consultancy was nothing beyond a word of mouth. In fact the whole concept of professional real estate consultancy emerged some two and a half decades back, when property dealers turned it into a commercial venture. And today we can see real estate deals stepping into online businesses.
One such development in this direction took place in September '05 when an online property auction was held in Delhi. It was organized by an international real estate consultant and was country's first online auction. All activities were conducted online starting from the bidding till announcement of the highest bidder. The auction was open only for a particular time limit, and within that limit the bidder had to log in to his account with a unique username and password on a specific website. However, the potential buyers were given a chance to see the property before taking any decision.
Info Edge (I) Pvt.Ltd., the makers of Naukri.com and Jeevansathi.com have recently launched there online real estate portal 99acres.com for buying, selling and renting property in India. 99acres.com was launched in August '05 and since then it has been the fastest growing property portal of India with a growth rate of 400%. It receives Indian and NRI traffic of 50000 a day that can access 100,000 residential and 10000 commercial listings.
The real estate sector is also booming with advertisements including both print and electronic media. Since the markets are shifting from urban to sub-urban areas, big companies have geared up to market themselves in those areas. This is one of the major factors that have contributed to the increase in ad spend that has grown by 39% in 2004. The expenditure was Rs. 151.9 crore in 2003 to 211.3 crore and this year it could be even higher as Rs. 136.2 crore have already been spent in the first half of the year.
Along with this India is also witnessing an investment boom in housing, commercial and retail projects that will be mainly routed through the FDI and real estate venture capital funds. The FDI investments are expected to go up till 18% over the next year (up from 10.6% in '04), the Venture Capital funds are also expected to draw in as much as Rs. 5,400 crore over the year. Recent surveys show that the investments in this sector have risen due to the loosening of the FDI laws and permissions for VC funds. According to AT Kearney's Global Investor Confidence Survey '04, India has been ranked as the third most favoured destination for FDI behind China and US.
On the other hand the National Housing and Habitat Policy, 2005, has proposed for introduction of 'Title insurance' in the country to put an end to fraudulent property transactions. This insurance will provide protection against property whose title is not clear. And this could gear up online property dealings as people may find it more reliable when they will have concrete laws and insurances to protect them.
To advertise, sell, search and buy property online, log on to http://www.99acres.com
About 99acres.com
99acres.com is an internet portal dedicated to meet every aspect of the consumer's needs in the real estate industry. It is a forum where buyers, sellers and brokers can exchange information, quickly, effectively and inexpensively. One of its unique features is Property Alert through which you can get the latest updates about new property or project listing on the website. At 99acres, you can also advertise a property, search for a property, browse through properties, build your own property Microsite, and visit other Indian and International websites.
For more information log on to www.99acres.com
About the Author
Rajat Rajvansh http://www.99acres.com/