Magicbricks'' Q1 revenue up 48 pc

Realty portal Magicbricks' revenues increased 48 per cent to Rs 47.5 crore in the June quarter on the back of improvement in property markets, product innovation and new revenue streams, a top company official said.

Magicbricks is a leading property site in the country with monthly traffic exceeding 20 million visits and an active base of over 1.1 million property listings. It provides a platform for properties'  buyers and sellers to connect in a clear and transparent manner. “We have posted a strong revenue growth of 48 per cent in the first quarter of 2018-19 financial year at Rs 47.5 crore,” Magicbricks CEO Sudhir Pai said.

He attributed the rise in revenues mainly to revival in the housing market that has fuelled marketing activities by the developers. “Moreover, we have introduced many new sales solutions for developers as well as brokers,” Pai said.

The company generates revenue from classified business where developers, brokers and individual landlords are the major source, he added. Asked about the revenue outlook for the full 2018-19 fiscal, he said the company has been able to achieve more than 50 per cent growth every year, except during the last two financial years -- 2017-18 and 2016-17. "This fiscal year, we are hoping to come back to that growth level," he said.

The company reported that it has achieved a run-rate of 6 crore visits and 25 lakh million registered buyers in the quarter of which 8 lakh buyers registered themselves for home buying, 12 lakh for renting, 2 lakh for commercial properties and the rest between other property types. The portal hosted over 1.1 million active properties as on June 30 with over 45,000 properties being added daily.

Appointed

Property consultant CBRE today announced appointment of Vima Philips as Head of Product and Engineering, Asia Pacific, to strengthen its digital and technology capabilities across the region.

Philips, who has an experience of 18 years in the industry, holds an MS in Software Engineering from BITS Pilani and a B-Tech in computer engineering from Cochin University.

Prior to joining CBRE, she was Vice President (VP) of Engineering at Sirion Labs. Her previous stints include Cisco Systems and Premier Retail Networks in San Francisco, and Wipro Technologies, Bangalore. "In her new role, Vima will oversee the Asia Pacific Digital & Technology centre in Gurugram and product leads across the Asia Pacific region," CBRE said in a statement.

Philips, who will be based out of Gurugram, will be responsible for further strengthening CBRE's technology prowess to enhance customer experience and augment operational efficiencies across all business lines/practices.

Commercial realty to dominate investments

Commercial real estate is likely to dominate the real estate investment in coming years. According to a report released by RICS India, in association with its knowledge partner Colliers International  India — Opportunities in a changing world: Making the most of an uncertain environment — changes in the business environment are likely to impact Corporate Real Estate (CRE) requirements and developers can cash in on these. The report mentioned that India witnessed investment transactions totalling to Rs 156 billion ($ 2.4 billion) in H1 2018, up by 26% compared to H1 2017 ($1.9 billion). The commercial segment dominating with global players such as Blackstone, Brookfield, Xander, etc. remained bullish on investment in commercial real estate in H1 2018. With increasing investment, the CRE market has also started witnessing profound structural changes in the way commercial real estate is built, financed and managed. According to Colliers research the change in ownership from local developers to institutional investors and advent of REITs should lead to the institutionalisation of the CRE in the next three years.

According to Colliers Research, about 120 million sq ft (11.2 million sq m) of gross office absorption will occur in the next three years. The demand is likely to be well supported by robust supply pipeline of about 124 million sq ft (11.5 million sq m) of office stock in major Indian cities.

Signature Global to invest Rs 100 cr on shopping mall at Ghaziabad Realty firm Signature Global, which is into affordable housing, today said it will invest Rs 100 crore to develop its first shopping mall at Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh (UP). In this mall, the Delhi-based company is also developing 80-rooms serviced apartments/suites to be managed by hospitality firm Clarks Premier. The total saleable area is 1 lakh sq ft in this shopping mall, which is expected to be operational by the end of the next year. This is the first project of the company in UP.

Signature Global is coming up with its maiden retail venture Signature Global Mall at Vaishali, Ghaziabad with a total investment of Rs 100 crore, the company said in a statement. The investment would comprise land and construction cost which will be met by internal accruals, it added. The company in the last year had raised Rs 200 crore fund from private equity player KKR. The Delhi- based firm had raised Rs 150 crore from ICICI Prudential in 2016. — Agencies