Majority of Indian buyers rely on Internet search for real estate decisions, new study shows
A new research revealed that majority of real estate buyers in India largely depend on Internet research when it comes to making decisions to enter into property deals.
Search engine giant Google said in a report that over 50% of Indian real estate buyers tend to research online for real estate information before deciding to get into the market and purchase property. In addition, 62% of the respondents cited aggregator sites such as makaan.com and magicbricks.com as their top sources of information.
Besides these sites, about 55% respondents said that websites of real estate companies are also excellent sources of information, while 45% revealed that broker sites, blogs and forums helped them to come up with a sound decision.
“There is tremendous opportunity for both online real estate aggregators, brokers and developers to engage the buyers online by providing rich, meaningful and immersive experience to buyers on the Internet,” said Google India Industry Director Nitin Bawankule.
According to the respondents, who were made up of 6,196 locals across 15 Indian cities, including the metros, Pune, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, the influence of Internet could be attributed to the following features: easy access to in-depth property information and market trends (60%); large comparison options (52%); easy access to contact details of owners and developers (49%); and financing and document processing information (43%).
”This phenomenon of researching online for real estate information before making a decision is not limited to metros but also extended to buyers in tier II cities,” added Bawankule.
The survey, conducted by consultancy firm Zinnov, also showed that the Internet brings in about USD $43 billion worth of overall real estate decisions for residential, commercial and rental property.
While Internet search is the primary tool that real estate buyers are inclined to use, the study reported that mobile devices are also becoming increasingly popular, particularly for those who research for property.
“Mobile queries (those originating from mobile phones) are doubling every year and about 40 percent of total searches came through mobile phones. Also, the study found 73 percent respondents saying they prefer using their mobile apps for researching for property,” Bawankule said.
