Real estate portals are the easiest way to find home

By Sruthi Kailas, Magicbricks Bureau

Home buying has come a long way in the last decade or so. An activity which was once considered to be a complete family decision taken after much deliberation with all near and dear ones has gradually become like any other purchase. So, what has changed? Read on.

As per a recent poll conducted by Magicbricks, the majority of the respondents have said that real estate portals are the easiest way to find a home. Almost 28 per cent of the respondents voted for online portals.

The advent of the internet has an impact on all aspects of our lives. It has changed the way we connect to different people across the globe, pay bills and shop. Slowly and gradually it has also changed the way we search and buy homes. In fact the recent tie ups of several renowned developers with different e-commerce and real estate portals for selling their projects are an indication of changing times.

Number of internet users in India is expected to grow to 500 million. According to the consulting firm McKinsey & Co E-commerce is no longer limited to apparel, gadgets and white goods. Consumers are even buying houses over the internet. The company expects the online medium to emerge as one of the fastest growing channels for real estate sales. According to our internal research, it has been seen that 70 per cent of our customers come from the online medium. We strongly believe that India is ready to buy homes online and will continue to create new and innovative ways to reach this target audience," exclaims Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing Development Company.

Almost equal number of respondents (26 per cent each) claimed that they would directly approach the concerned developer or reach out to a real estate broker or agent. These have been the preferred modes for searching homes all these years. Even though portals are catching up on preference due to convenience and lack of on part of home buyers, more than 40 per cent of the buyers still prefer the conventional ways.

Another 20 per cent of the respondents still depend on the 'word of mouth' concept. They claimed that the easiest way of finding a home is through family or friends.

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.