Indian real estate takes a giant digital leap: From virtual tours to online bookings

April 30, 2020: With construction work at halt and projects getting delayed, the real estate sector is now also struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. The sector is looking forward to the government's support to bring business back on track.

But the transformation the industry has undergone in a matter of days is quite a leap!

Changes that industry stalwarts had imagined would only happen in a distant future have happened overnight. For instance, from the time when a physical property visit was indispensable to rent or buy a property, to today where startups are seeing numerous customers finalising properties for rent, via video walkthroughs!

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While the concept is not new and is being practiced in most developed countries, for India it is a giant leap! Amit Agarwal, Co-founder & CEO of NoBroker.com, a tech-based brokerage-free real estate platform says that he is overwhelmed to see many owners and seekers already onboarded on the shift.

"To our surprise, many home-seekers were quickly onboarded on the process. We thought we would pilot it, but what we have today is over 200 successful cases of tenants finalising homes only via video walkthroughs and without an actual property visit. Come to think of it, it is not phones or books or vegetables that one is ordering or booking online. It is a home that people would stay in. It is a big decision," Agarwal said.

"Technology seems to be saving the gigantic industry that has been pulled down by multiple factors. From online discovery to online rent payment and rental agreement, technology has helped the sector come a long way. And video-walkthroughs are poised to give a new facelift to the staggering sector," believes Amit.

"Now that customers have had a taste of it, we hope that the trend continues beyond the lockdown period. We will continue to make this experience even better and smoother as we believe that technology has the power to achieve which could only be thought of and wished for in real estate," he said.

With social distancing and the enhanced sense of sanitisation being the order of the day, people are fast migrating towards a more digitised world, according to many real estate players. And another sensational aspect of the change that they are seeing is the payment of rent, via credit cards!

With more than 85 lakh registered users, Saurabh Garg, Co-founder & CBO of NoBroker.com says his portal has seen a sudden uptick, a jump of 34 percent in the number of people availing the service of rent payment via credit cards (comparing February and April 2020). "Credits cards offer the much-needed buffer period or flexibility for tenants to make the payment. It ensures that the rent gets paid to landlords in time and tenants do not have to face a liquidity crisis. They get almost 45 days of the free credit period, said Garg."

This also shows that the pandemic has set into motion a more disciplined and more efficient way of closing transactions that would only benefit the real estate sector.

But on the other hand, consumer behavior may undergo drastic changes. Both residential and commercial segments in real estate will suffer a significant downfall due to the unprecedented situation. But Indian economics’ fundamental is strong and the sector is likely to make a strong comeback which even RBI has projected for the next fiscal year.

RBI has already announced several measures to offset the damage including a sharp reduction in interest rates both repo and reverse repo. Besides, it has also infused liquidity in the banking system which will help all interest-sensitive sectors including the real estate sector. It is likely that the government will also announce some measures for Indian Industries particularly those impacted by COVID-19 in severe proportion.

A strong comeback in the long term may be true, as almost 30 percent of people in India live on rent and 13 percent in their parent's house reveals the RICS - Knight Frank report, 2019. So the demand may come back within the next couple of quarters, but in the short term, the demand will remain low.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change" - Charles Darwin

Currently, the industry might see distortion in the way business is handles, mismatch in cash flow, reduced spending power by the consumer, but in the long run, we are sure to witness more digital community engagements.

With weaker buying sentiment, real estate supply will see more unsold inventory and alternative uses of assets like managed rental living, co-living and student housing.

While the industry awaits government support and hopes for a few revisions in GST, stamp duty, registration charges and lower interest rates, one thing is for certain, once the pandemic is over the real estate sector would have entered a more efficient, a more digitally equipped era!

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