Covid-19 and Real Estate: How Technology is Changing the Way India Finds New Homes

By Shashank Vashistha, Executive Director, eXp Realty India

2021 has been a year of recovery for the Indian real estate sector after a challenging pandemic period. While the construction and real estate industries have declined by 8.6% and 1.5% respectively between April 2020 and March 2021, Q4 has seen a YoY growth of 14.5% and 5.4% respectively for the sectors according to the data released by the NSO (National Statistical Office). As vaccination rates pick up and the economy slowly inches back to normal, we can expect to see a resurgence in the interest for renting and buying property. The real estate industry has also been pivoting and adjusting to cope better with the new normal. Let’s take a closer look at what this means.

Challenges and opportunities for the real estate sector post-Covid

The initial months after March 2020 were tough for the real estate industry, particularly the residential sector. The demand started picking up after a few months, however, with festival euphoria contributing to a spike in demand around October and the reduction in house rent and loan interest rates spurring many consumers towards finally getting a new home. Another game-changer in this regard was the fall in stamp duty in Maharashtra. The latter half of 2020 also saw an increase in demand for larger houses, as the move towards work-from-home meant that people wanted more space to double up as a home office.

One positive trend observed during the pandemic was the increased adoption of digital methodologies by real estate firms. In many tier-2 cities, we even observed landlords listing their properties online for the first time. Going digital made sense from a practical point of view, as physical site visits went down drastically for social distancing reasons. In addition, moreover, the demand of housing is driven largely by millennials nowadays, who are naturally tech-savvy and expect 24×7 availability and connectivity everywhere. To cater to them, as well as to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the on-ground real estate agents, firms have been investing in new-age technology to successfully navigate the post-Covid world. One of the most significant developments on this front is the use of virtual reality to offer homeowners digital walkthroughs of their prospective homes. Now that people are less willing to come visit in person, developers are using multiple features like 360-degree drone view, downloadable floor plans, dollhouse view and more to create as complete a virtual experience as possible.

New-age brokerage

We can expect virtual real estate brokerage, in fact, to assume a dominant position in the near future. New-age firms are coming up with solutions that not only provide a complete virtual home-searching experience but also support the real estate agents better. Virtual reality has immense potential in the creation of cloud-based virtual office set-ups whereby the need for physical proximity and maintaining a brick-and-mortar office is reduced, thus saving the company significant costs. At the same time, a sense of community and togetherness is still maintained where silos can break down and inter-departmental communication is facilitated regardless of where team members are geographically.

Through virtual solutions, agents can also perform on-ground activities better. Throughout last year, agents have been forced to step out on a regular basis to show people around houses, as many homeowners are still resistant to the notion of browsing for homes online. Virtual office solutions enable these agents to access data, CRM and other resources on the go, giving them the right inputs whenever needed while reducing the need to come into the office. In addition, virtual training solutions equip real estate agents with the skills, knowledge and professional savvy they need to drive more sales and build a stronger career, with the training imparted in a gamified model to help with better retention and quicker grasping of facts. Perhaps most noteworthy is how these new-age firms are approaching the compensation model – real estate agents are given the option to earn equity and a handsome brokerage fee on every sale they make, thus motivating them to keep aiming higher.

Industries everywhere are undergoing a paradigm shift, and real estate is no exception. While it has traditionally been an industry dominated by the physical touch, virtual solutions are rapidly changing that. At the core of real estate lies the agents who put themselves out there every day – by equipping them with the right technology and skills, they can not only conduct virtual deals successfully but also earn their customers’ trust and their firm’s respect.

Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)