Online realty portals unleash sweet offers

In a bid to match their offline counterparts, online real estate players are sweetening the deal for consumers to get sales kicking.

From offering below market price property to conducting online auctions and even making an offer to furnish apartments besides choice of inventory, online realty players are inching close to their offline counterparts when it comes to offers.

Snapdeal, for example, has launched a scheme that gives customers an opportunity to purchase property at 6-8 per cent lower price than the market.

Tony Navin, Senior VP (Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives), Snapdeal, said, “The real-estate category on Snapdeal has received phenomenal response since its launch. This is due to our partnership with trusted developers, and technology innovations that allow ease of online and offline transactions, as well as exclusive offers for our customers.”

Others like Tata Housing, which has partnered with Amazon India for ‘The World’s Biggest Home Bonanza’, said customers can get an opportunity to purchase furnishings and home improvement products upto ₹27 lakh, choosing from 4 crore products.

Players like HDFC Realty too had recently associated with iBidmyHome.com to conduct multi-property online home auctions. The company said it had received bids worth ₹155 crore during the auction period from end consumers.

“There is a huge inventory with the developers. Buyers want to buy and developers want to sell their projects as there is a price distress. Auctions across the world are considered as one of the most transparent methods for buyers and sellers to transact in real estate, and is specifically favoured by buyers as it gives them an opportunity to buy prime, pre-screened real estate at off-market prices,” HDFC Realty CEO Vikram Goel said, adding the company hopes to close 100 odd transaction from the 400 odd bids.

HDFC Realty, which has residential foot-print in 23 cities and commercial reach in 50 cities, said it had chosen to go ahead for this initiative with select few developers in South India with ready-to-occupy properties. “We are looking to take the concept in Mumbai or Pune soon,” Goel said.

Developers are bullish about online platforms, and expect 25-30 per cent of sales in next couple of years. Meanwhile, Mumbai-based Lodha developer has launched an exclusive portal for one of its projects in Mumbai. The company said it created a prototype for its Palava project as it was seeing significant transaction in the online space.

Samujjwal Ghosh, Executive VP and Head of Marketing at Lodha Group, points out that the company had so far managed to sell close to 400 flats at the Palava project through the online model.

He added that the company had also opened an early window where early buyers could get a choice of inventory.

Industry experts though, still differ on the online sales.

Ramesh Nair, COO and International Director of JLL, said, “Online real estate is like a banner advertisement and can work as an enquiry forum. However, complete end-to-end transaction is still some time away, as buyers would still want to look at the property before buying.”

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