Anarock revenue doubles to Rs 188-cr in FY19; brokerage drives growth

Out of the total revenue, Rs 150 crore came from housing brokerage, said chairman Anuj Puri

Property brokerage firm Anarock's revenue doubled to Rs 188 crore in 2018-19 and the company turned profitable in the second year of operation on improved housing demand and increasing reliance of buyers on organised brokers, the company's chairman Anuj Puri said.

Anarock, which was formed by Puri in April 2017 after he quit global property consultant JLL, had posted a revenue of Rs 93 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal, the first year of its business.

"It's been a great performance. Technology and digital helped in bringing efficiency and productivity across the board for Anarock," he said

"We have become profitable in the last fiscal with Rs 8.5 crore profit," said Puri, who set up his venture after serving JLL India as chairman and country head for 10 years. He bought the residential brokerage arm of JLL to start his business.

Out of the total revenue, he said, Rs 150 crore came from housing brokerage and the rest from consultancy that it provides in commercial real estate, hospitality and capital market.

Housing brokerage accounted for Rs 72 crore out of the Rs 93 crore revenue generated in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

In the housing brokerage business, Anarock competes with the likes of News Corp-backed PropTiger.com, Quikr Realty, Square Yards, 360 Realtors, Investors Clinic and Wealth Clinic in the organised space.

Puri said the housing brokerage business is becoming professional and organised with brokers being brought into the ambit of new realty law RERA that came into force from May 2017.

In terms of volumes, Anarock helped developers sell 13,000 flats worth Rs 12,000 crore during 2017-18 fiscal year. Till January of the last fiscal, it had sold 11,000 units worth Rs 10,000 crore. The company earns a brokerage of 1.5-2.5 per cent on sales value.

Anarock received a marketing budget support of about Rs 400 crore from real estate developers for selling these inventories.

The maximum sales have been achieved in Mumbai Metropolitan Market, followed by Bengaluru and Gurugram, where ticket prices are more than Rs 1 crore.

Anarock has a sales force of more than 1,500 people across major cities. It has invested heavily on creating technology platforms.

"This success rate, unprecedented in the currently subdued residential real estate market, is the result of our proprietary technology coupled with immediate expert offline support," Puri had said earlier.

Besides housing brokerage, Anarock has started consultancy services in retail, hospitality, land services, capital markets, warehousing and logistics, investment management, research and strategic consulting.