How Proptech is driving current surge in NRI investments in Indian Real Estate

By Abhyudaya Garg, Managing partner, Homely Yours

Depreciation of Rupee had sent ripples across many sectors. The case of Indian real estate has been quite different. Real estate is now seeing opportunities from Indians overseas.

Investing in property back home being one of the popular channels of investments for NRIs, rupee depreciation has skyrocketed the flow of NRI investment in Indian Real Estate. Properties in major metro cities across India have caught the sight of non-resident Indians. Sales of Class-A properties is on rise since depreciation of rupee has made spending capacities of NRIs more elastic.

Current trends have shown that major realty hubs of India including (but not limited to) Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad many more cities top the list.

Interestingly, non-residents of India (NRIs) who has put their property purchase on hold learning about the looming problems in the process of Property purchase are now in search of a property that parallels the property of their dream.

While the depreciation of rupee sparked the surge in NRI investment in Indian real estate, the shift of real estate to the realm of online business has fuelled it further. NRIs that earlier had to depend on their peers and relatives back in India can now remotely avail expert assistance through online players. Real estate that was an unorganized sector in India is now slowly evolving to become an organised sector after the emergence of Proptechs.

Trustworthy source of information 

In absence of proper source of information to learn about Indian real estate, NRIs were left with no option but to depend on their relatives and friends in India. Uncertainty about the property made their property buying experience a drag for many. Emergence of Proptech created a trustworthy source of data based information support making real time updates accessible at any time of their convenience.

From compliance verification to ensuring timely delivery of properties, online players have made property buying a seamless experience for NRIs. Pandemic’s influence on real estate has made NRIs’ long dream a reality today. Not living in India is no more a barrier to gain complete insight about real time scenario of Indian real estate.

Finding a dream property 

Weather as an investment asset or as a place to live after returning to India, home buying is a popular investment plan among NRI community. Super luxury premium homes aren’t so luxurious unless they suit the dreams of the buyers. NRIs were often taken away with the promising projections and ended up finding themselves inside a property that in no way suited their dreams in some cases not even their basic preferences. With systematic support offered by online players, NRI community is now able to take a deep breath.

Transparency issues

Indian real estate being an unorganised sector, transparency had never been a priority for the market. Lack of transparency had put NRI community at a risk of owning properties that were non-compliant leading to hazardous turns post the purchase of properties. Unlike earlier when these tasks demanded time and efforts that NRIs couldn’t expect from their nearest ones back in India, such risks are at nil for NRIs today as proptech platforms have brought an organization to Indian real estate sector.

NRIs are now assured on transparency towards projection of project completion. Be it time, quality and property maintenance, NRIs now can check only with certified Class A properties while the proptechs filter out the rest.

Financial Assistance

Financial assistance is something that NRIs had to manage by themselves. Despite various Indian banks having their presence overseas, lack of proper assistance NRIs in many cases have hard time availing loans for purchasing properties in India. Documentation is one of the major hurdles that makes loans a hard nut for NRIs. Arranging for necessary documents and providing explanations for the same as necessary demands a skilful navigation through the process. To apply for home loan in India, an NRI is expected to provide documentations such as overseas credit report, tax returns, Power of Attorney, documents translation and many which results in delay in overall process. Adding to it is the need for knowledge of interest rates charged by various banks.

A realization of the problems and spread of awareness of how proptechs could make property purchase a seamless experience has now led to an increase in the number of NRIs who make property purchases in India through trusted Proptech platforms.