Indian Realty Market Irresistible For NRIs

Bangalore:  Drop in Indian currency is alluring NRIs to park their investments in real estate sector of India. Enquiries related to property from NRIs in the US, UK and the Middle East has grown drastically over last three months as many NRIs are grouping up with compatible buyers on real estate group-buying websites to buy inventories of cheaper rates offered by developers through these portals reports Shilpa Phadnis of TOI.

In this sluggish realty market, developers are approaching online group housing sales portals to increase their sales by offering attractive discounts to buyers. Sandesh Wadhwa, cofounder of group-buying portal groupbookings.in stated that from past three months NRIs are showing more interest in properties and the demand for mid-sized housing projects are more in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Sandeep Reddy, co-founder of Groffr.com stated that, in last two months, the online sites have witnessed a strong growth in sales conversion rate mainly because of NRIs. "The mood among NRI investors is buoyant as they now need to spend fewer dollars or pounds for the same property. The sub-Rs 60 lakh properties are most in demand," reports TOI.

London-based Nayan Bhavishi, a keen investor has invested maximum on Indian real estate sector. He has bought two ready-to-move-in flats from an online portal Groffr.com, Nayan says he got handsome discount of 25 percent on the property purchase and the exchange rate at Rs 84 to a pound was a big draw.

Vaibhav Sharma, assistant professor of finance at Winthrop University, South Carolina has brought two flats in Gurgaon through an online portal groupbookings.in. According to him, investment in U.S would have fetched negative return of investment on the property he rather prefers to Invest in India wherein he can expect at least 6 percent annualized returns in the residential space and he also suggests that this is a good time to step in Indian real estate market.

Real estate portals are giving additional freebies to entice buyers on group booking. According to websites like GrOffr.com and Discounted Flats, the discount ranges from 2 percent to 20 percent depending on the strength of the group, and this increases the volume of sales.