"Online property market is growing exponentially in India and it is expected that Internet would take up about 10-15 per cent of the total real estate advertisement expenditure soon," Indiaproperty.com CEO Murugavel Janakiram told PTI.
Indiaproperty.com, a part of the BharatMatrimony group, provides details of properties available for rental, sale, lease, besides providing information about people looking for rooms on a shared basis.
"In the US, 90 per cent of property buyers use Internet as their primary medium of search. There is no doubt that Internet is the best medium for buying and selling real estate. It's just a matter of creating awareness," he added.
Lower penetration of Internet is a major dampening factor for low popularity of online property market. "With the increase in internet users, the online property market will see a good demand," Janakiram said.
According to him, the success of the online model is because of the wide reach that it provides, which is beyond a particular city or a place.
"Most property owners, builders or agents are happy with the response they receive as they get calls from abroad and from cities across India," he said adding that "This is the uniqueness of the medium, unlike the traditional methods."
Regarding the security of this model, the CEO said that the transaction of the property does not happen online and the final decision is made by the buyer. Indiaproperty.com also has the facility to upload videos of the property for free.
Janakiram said that every builder gets to feature his property on the site and depending on the search criteria, the property gets listed. "One can have all the requirements checked even before actually visiting the property. Hence the medium only facilitate more and better options for the buyer for making the best choice," he added.
Also, the promoter can choose to have his site placed in the home page or host advertisements on the site. On the revenue model for the site, Janakiraman said it is based both on lead generation and advertisements placed by professionals and enterprises within the real estate community, comprising builders, agents, developers and promoters.
Indiaproperty.com also provides SMS-based solutions for individuals and professionals within the real estate industry.
