Number of property seekers spikes

With the implications of the policy interventions in India’s real estate industry settling in there are tell-tale signs of recovery all over. According to the Magicbricks’ Consumer Search Trends there has been a whopping 61 per cent rise in the number of property seekers over the past 12 months, with the number of active property seekers going up sharply on a YoY basis from 3.4 lakh in July’16 to 5.5 lakh in September’17.

Though on-ground transactions are yet to pick steam, there has been an 18 per cent rise in returning users over the last quarter (July-September, 2017) indicating a positive shift in consumer sentiment towards what has otherwise been a muted real estate industry for the past few years. The rise in returning users could be attributed to the fact that consumers are not exiting the market out of despair but are taking longer to close deals. “Deal-seeking” is the new normal and developers and agents would do well to work on strategies on how to close a transaction in a buyer driven market.

Commenting on the positive change in consumer search trends, Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks, said, “The number of returning users rising by 18 per cent in just one quarter is a testament to the fact that property seekers are searching vigorously than ever before. A returning property seeker is defined as someone who has been in the market for over a month. The rise in returning users indicates that end-users haven’t exited the market, but are taking longer to finalise a transaction. At a city-level in Delhi-NCR, Pune Mumbai and Hyderabad, we have seen growth varying from 3-10 per cent on a sequential basis.”

The consumer search trends have also revealed that demand at a city-level has continued its uptrend from last quarter to this quarter. Cities like Pune, Mumbai, NCR and Hyderabad have shown growth varying from 3 to 10 per cent on a sequential basis. These cities have shown a robust growth of 35 per cent+ from last year with Hyderabad leading the pack at 66 per cent growth. Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata have had a muted increase in the number of buyers sequentially but have given a 30 per cent+ growth as compared to Jul’16.

There are multiple factors driving the current jump in consumer demand and changes in consumer preference. With supply in abundance, it is now a buyers’ market.

— TNS