Property seekers up by 61 pct in twelve months

With the implications of the policy interventions in India's real estate industry settling in, Magicbricks' 'Consumer Search Trends' revealed that there has been a 61 percent rise in property seekers over the last 12 months, with the number of active property seekers going up sharply on a year-on-year (YoY) basis from 3.4 Lakh in July'16 to 5.5 Lakh in September'17.

Though on-ground transactions are yet to pick steam, there has been an 18 percent rise in returning users over the last quarter (July-September, 2017) indicating a positive shift in consumer sentiment towards what has otherwise been a muted real estate industry for the last few years.

The rise in returning users could be attributed to the fact that consumers are not exiting the market out of despair but are taking longer to close deals. "Deal-seeking" is the new normal and developers and agents would do well to work on strategies on how to close a transaction in a buyer driven market.

"The rise in returning users indicates that end-users haven't exited the market, but are taking longer to finalise a transaction. The growth trend over the last 12 months seems to continue from the last quarter with a four percent sequential quarter on quarter growth. At a city-level in Delhi-NCR, Pune Mumbai and Hyderabad, we have seen growth varying from three to ten percent on a sequential basis," said Magicbricks CEO, Sudhir Pai.

Magicbricks' Consumer Search Trends also revealed that demand at a city-level continued its uptrend from last quarter to this quarter. Cities like Pune, Mumbai, NCR and Hyderabad have shown growth varying from three to ten percent on a sequential basis. These cities have shown a robust growth of over 35 percent from last year, with Hyderabad leading the pack at 66 percent growth. Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata have had a muted increase in the number of buyers sequentially, but have given a 30 percent growth as compared to July last year.

There are multiple factors driving the current jump in consumer demand and changes in consumer preference. With supply in abundance, it is now a buyers' market. Further, from an end-users' perspective, this is the best time to get the proverbial 'bang-for-the-buck', the survey notes.