Need to upgrade brokers' skills for better real estate services: FICCI-JLL

Industry body FICCI and real estate consultant JLL India have pitched for formal training and certification courses for property brokers to upgrade their skills, enabling them to help clients in taking informed decisions.

FICCI and JLL India have jointly come out with a white paper titled '(Re)Shaping Real Estate Professionals', which highlighted that the real estate agent registration grew from 33,270 in January 2019, to 71,514 in January 2023, across the country under the Real Estate (Development and Regulations) Act, 2016, known as RERA law.

A delegation led by Vineet Nanda, Chairman - Regional Urban Infra Committee, FICCI, recently presented the white paper to Arun Kumar Gupta, ACS, Town & Country Planning, Haryana, according to a statement.

Nanda, Director Sales & Marketing of realty firm Krisumi Corporation, briefed Gupta about the education programme available currently to skill brokers, also called as channel partners.

"Presently, despite the RERA, only 30 per cent of the channel partners are registered across India," Nanda pointed out.

"The team members associated with the channel partners are not skilled. Contrary to this, all other investment instruments such as stock market, commodities market, financial markets have to take certification courses to become acquainted with the market and its regulatory environment," he observed.

Nanda recommended that the state government should further regulate the environment by spreading the education programme and tie-up with universities that offer certified courses.

This will ensure upgradation of skills to earn more as well as creation of new job opportunities, he added.

The report highlighted that real estate agents/brokers are one of the most important parts of the ever-growing real estate sector, which is witnessing a huge interest from domestic and global investors.

"While the real estate market is evolving and customer demands are shifting, the services supplied by brokers are falling short," it pointed out.

The report emphasised on the need to educate the real estate sales professional who act as intermediary between seller and buyers in each real estate transaction.

"This will help in bringing more trust and comfort to both buyers and sellers and help them make informed decisions," it said.

The report suggested that training programmes should be curated in a comprehensive manner, enabling brokers to get a thorough knowledge of the real estate sector, including current regulations; communication and marketing skills; and use of social media and other digital tools.

"Training programmes must include accreditation or certification, which can help brokers market themselves as industry experts," the report said.

At present, it said there are limited government and commercial institutes that help to upskill brokers.

However, real estate brokers in most of the developed countries undergo a formal training and certification program after which they are eligible to get a license.