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2. b) To save time of the consumer
c) To improve engagement cycle between builders and buyers
d) To provide primary information about projects
e) To give impartial advice to the end users
Business Model of real estate portals
The business of real estate websitesflourish on the basis of advertisements, leads for
brokers and builders and fees for facilitating buying process. These portals claim to make
the entire real estate transaction process convenient for the buyer on the basis of following
factors held responsible for their steady growth.
No dearth of data but accuracy in question: Almost all the property portals claim to possess
a vast statistical base. Their data bank includesexpert opinion on all types of real estate
projects, accurate information about places, price trends, track record of developers,
inventories available in the projects, demand and supply ratio and infrastructure availability
at a particular location.
Visual representation of properties thou the quality is in question: Offeringmap based
search, visual representation of the property and its actual location to the buyer, most of
the online portals link searches on rent/sale properties to a Google map feature. It helps the
buyer to locate his desired properties,find possible roads to reach it, ascertain distances
andsocial infrastructure in the vicinity. Further technological advancement is used in giving a
3D model view of properties available with the developers’ newly launched projects and
information on floor plans, directions, commuting details to help end users see and feel the
property.
Verification – all done online or phone: Property verification is animportant element of real
estate portals asit protects buyers from frauds. The portals claim that actual images listed
on the website are taken by their data agents.
Online property deals – is that really happening?: The recent big ticket deals in commercial
and residential segments done through online real estate portals indicate the increasing
trend among High Networth Individuals (HNIs) to strike deal even from foreign countries.
The number of such online transactions is increasing with every passing day.
Major realty portals in India
In a stiff competitive atmosphere, the number of real estate portals is increasing in India. As
per content, relevance and accuracy, some portals have taken lead over others. As per some
popular surveys and ranking by www.alexa.com, a global pioneer in the world of analytical
insight, Property81 finds the below mentioned websites leading the charge in online
property transactions in India.
Portal Name Launch Year Alexa India Ranking Special Features
99acres 2005 132 Search properties,
browse through
them and build own
property microsite
on this site.
Magicbricks 2006 169 It carries property
listings from more
than 100 cities and

3. says it gets 18 million
page views in a
month.
Commonfloor 2007 245 It has a vast source
of research on
property related
matters, legal issues,
maintenance, facility
management to
home insurance etc.
Indiaproperty 2006 347 Covers property
listings in around 200
cities across the
country.
Housing.com 2012 438 It is a fast growing
online real estate
platform working
with the objective of
giving relief to
buyers from onsite
visits, consultation
and formalities.
Quikrhomes 2015 37
*ranking of
quikr.com
It helps its users to
search residential,
commercial or
agricultural
properties to either
buy or rent in
different cities. The
customers can
search considering
locality, project or
builder.
Grabhouse 2013 957 It is a broker free
online rental
platform. It
concentrates only on
rentals for flats,
shared
accommodations
and PG.
Makaan 2007 1211 Forty per cent of its
traffic comes from
mobile and it has
one of the best
consumer
engagement and
conversion rates in
the industry.

4.
Wide presence ‐ Poor revenue
The growing internet penetration and positive economic sentiments in the country has
helped real estate portals to increase their presence in the market. The funding from private
institutional players inspired most of these portal founders to take measures to reach their
sites to the end users. Being start‐ups , they are focussing not on profits but on generating
healthy revenues. Still, online real estate businesses are bearing the brunt of a slowdown in
demand, limitations of their business models and a broader slowdown in funding for
internet‐based businesses.Consequently, the early movers such as 99acres, Commonfloor
are reporting lacklustre numbers while new entrants such as Housing.com and Grabhouse
are shedding jobs to cope with the slowdown and even restructuring their
businesses.99acres reported operating loss of Rs37 crore on revenue of Rs100.4 crore for
year ended 31 March, according to the company’s annual report. Eight‐year‐old
Commonfloor posted a loss of Rs.46 crore on revenue of Rs.87 crore in the same period,
suggests documents filed with the Registrar of Companies.
Are housing portals relevant?
Rental and resale of properties are two of the biggest segments which are being dominated
by brokers and real estate websites have not dented these forts as yet. This restricts the
scope of real estate start‐ups and brings them to the level of an agent.
The current slowdown in real estate sector has dealt a blow to the online housing portals as
property market in India continues to battle with a high inventories, unenthusiastic sales
and loss of customer confidence. Developers have been tapping all possible sales and
marketing channels to sell homes, apart from giving out price discounts and other easy
payment schemes. On this backdrop, such portals were expected to have scored more than
their offline counterparts but in vain. This fact clearly indicates the limited scope and
relevance of property portals. And with implementation of the proposed Real Estate
Regulation Act, real estate agents are expected to emerge stronger than their digital
competitors because of their long association with consumers in providing them genuine
services.
Futurelooks uncertain
It is believed that e‐property portals are the mediums that make property hunt a more
efficient and organized process but their updates and filters are often found erroneous and
sales agents are alleged to be behaving in a detached manner failing to solve queries of
customers who see the property on spot.At the same time, inadequate, and sometimes
inaccurate, information about a particular project makes it difficult for consumers to arrive
at a decision.
The housing portals, mostly founded by young technology wizards have no knowledge of
complex real estate business.A large chunk of Indian demography (not so techno savvy) still
prefers the services of offline brokers because of their easy physical presence in the
locations of their choice.
Housing portals are miserably failing in collecting authentic data, providing value‐added
services, ensuring active sales and improving customer experience. Probably, these are the
reasons for operating losses as reported by websites like 99acres (Rs37 crore on revenue

5. of Rs100.4 crore for year ended 31 March, 2015) and Commonfloor(Rs46 crore on revenue
of Rs87 crore in the same period).
Another reason for raising the question on existence of housing portals is that they received
decreasing funding in last two years.
Due to global slowdown in real estate sector, these start‐ups or even established property
portals will struggle in coming years.
Funding between 2013 and 2015
Property Portal Deal Value Year
Housing.com $5.6 mn 2013
Indiahomes.com $5.01 mn 2013
Housing.com $88.7 mn 2014
Indiahomes.com $19.28 mn 2014
Housing.com $15.85 mn 2014
Housing.com $9.86 mn 2014
Proptiger.com $7 mn 2014
Grabhouse.com $2.5 2015