The secondary real estate market in India has started recovering after being hit by demonetisation, according to a survey conducted by Grant Thornton, FICCI and Escrowffrr.

The report titled, ‘Improving transparency in secondary real estate market’ said, 72 per cent transactions in 2017-18 in Delhi-NCR were concluded in the secondary segment against 28 per cent in the primary segment.

But Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad recorded on average 72 per cent primary transactions. However, Mumbai, Pune and Kolkata witnessed an equal distribution. Seventy-four per cent of the respondents believe that background legal check is a major challenge while buying a resale property.

However, 47 per cent respondents want the government to streamline the secondary real estate market to avoid high stamp duty and other taxes by bringing in an escrow mechanism.

“Consumer sentiments towards the primary market is feeble due to prolonged factors like delay in possession, distrust of the developers and ambiguous pricing for services not opted,” said Neeraj Sharma, Director, Grant Thornton Advisory Private Limited.

The report said 40 per cent of the respondents feel that rationalisation of stamp duty and standard agreement will give a boost to the overall sector and bring in transparency.

To bring transparency in the secondary real estate market, there is a need to focus on digitisation of property records, said KK Khandelwal, Chairman, Haryana Real Estate Regulator Authority.

“Digitisation will help in reducing the legal costs and process time thereby building confidence among the buyers,” Khandelwal said, at a conference organised by FICCI on Friday.

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