INDIAHOMES_WHITEPAPER_DIGITAL

Assessing the Impact of
Digital Technology on
Real Estate Markets
in India

Assessing the Impact of Digital Technology
on Real Estate Markets in India
Overview
The impact of digital technology (internet,
mobile phones and tablets) has greatly affected
our lives. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) had announced that there were 164.81
million internet users in India as of March, 2013,
of whom 7/8th made use of handheld devices
such as smartphones and tablets. Currently,
India holds the third position among nations
with the most number of internet users, after US
and China. Therefore, it is quite palpable that
digital technology would influence the third most
important sector that affects the economy.
This white paper makes use of a study conducted
by Google India on “Real Estate in India: The
Digital Influence” to establish the pivotal role
that would be played by digital technology in
determining the course of real estate in India. The
survey was conducted over 15 cities with 6196
respondents spanning over residential renting,
residential buying and commercial renting to
determine answers to two main questions.
1. How far would the internet impact the growth of
the real estate market?
2. Understanding consumer behaviour in pre-
purchase phase.
The following white paper acknowledges the
growing presence of digital media in the real
estate marketandaddressesissuesofharnessing
the true potential of digital technology.
Introduction
India property markets have traditionally been
unorganised and largely fragmented. However,
modern times have witnessed enhanced market
consolidation on part of developers and real
estate organisations with structured processes
and sourced financing modules.
Itisinthiscontextthattheinternetassumeslarger
importance in the scheme of things, particularly
for its role in shaping consumer behaviour.
A whopping 53% of consumers today are reliant
upon the internet for research and information
relating to real estate, while a significant 24%
of this growing base of netizens prioritise the
internet above all other mass media platforms
in this regard.It has also been observed that $43
billion worth of Indian realty transactions are
directly influenced by the internet as real estate
assumes pride of place in average search listings
in the country.
Residential real estate investment of
USD 31 billion is influenced by the
internet while commercial real estate
is influenced by USD 12 billion
-
Real estate market largely
unorganised in Tier II
and Tier III cities
01

The indexedqueryvolume on Google suggeststhatrealestate querieshave gone
up by 3% and 1 out of 2 people look up the internet for gathering information.
Taking relevant findings into account, it is quite evident that the internet is here
to stay as far as mainstream real estate is concerned.
Figure 1: Growth of organised realty market clusters
Figure 2: Internet as a major information source
02
Organised real estate
market will double
by 2017
2013 2017
$79 Bn
$140 Bn
Information sources for
real estate research
Print
Web
Sales/Broker
Referrals
Television
Out-of-home ads

Patterns of usage of various devices for accessing the internet
Becauseoftheeverplummetingpriceofsmartphonesandotherelectronicgadgets,moreindividuals
can access the internet, irrespective of where they are. 40% of queries for real estate are carried out
by cell phones and their numbers are doubling every year. Cell phones are mostly used by enquirers
belonging to the age group of 25-35 and/or having an income more than `21 lakhs per annum.
Business owners with a turnover of more than `5 crores browse the internet for real estate news on
smartphones as well. The proportion of smartphone users for online research was the same in Tier
I and II cities. A whopping 73% of researchers using smartphones access real estate information
through apps that are made by property portals. The maximum number of app users belong to the
age bracket of 25 to 45 years. These apps offer consolidated information to users making use of the
information entered by them at the time of logging in. The apps are usually available for free and
work on both Google and iOS platforms.
03
Figure 3: Popular devices for real estate research
Devices leveraged for
Devices used across for online
research across Tier 1 & Tier 2
Online Research
91% 86%
Top Metro Small Metro
55% 55%
Laptop/Desktop Computers Smartphones
Devices used across age groups
Laptop/Desktop Computers
88%
46-60 Years
89%
60+ Years
86%
36-45 Years
90%
25-35 Years
Smartphones
50%
46-60 Years
26%
60+ Years
54%
36-45 Years
57%
25-35 Years
Devices used based on annual
income buying & renting
`5 lakhs < `5-21 lakhs `21 lakhs >
90% 88% 85%
research across Tier 1 & Tier 2
Online Research
91% 86%
55% 55%
Laptop/Desktop Computers Smartphones
Devices used across age groups
88%
46-60 Years
89%
60+ Years
86%
36-45 Years
90%
25-35 Years
Smartphones
50%
46-60 Years
26%
60+ Years
54%
36-45 Years
57%
25-35 Years
Devices used based on annual
income buying & renting
90% 88% 85%
Smartphones
37% 56% 69%
Devices used based on annual turnover (commercial)
`25 lakhs < `25 lakhs- 5 cr `5 crores >
`25 lakhs < `25 lakhs- 5 cr `5 crores >
90% 85% 91%
Smartphones
54% 67% 69%
Survey Question: Which of the following devices do you use for online real estate?
Source: Zinonov research

Those researching information regarding residential properties are 62% more likely to resort to
aggregator portals such as www.indiahomes.com. The plausible explanation would be that the
information about the projects, various cities and market trends are readily available on these sites
and enquirers prefer to have consolidated information at hand. Across various stages of property
buying and cities, more than 50% of enquirers have stated that they find aggregator portals more
engaging for residential and commercial real estate buying and selling because of the news stories,
expert comments and discussion forums available on them.
The finding is particularly significant for
commercial real estate because collecting
information about commercial properties
from unorganisWed sources is difficult.
These sites often have a pop-up online chat
window that can be used for entering queries
which require specific answers.
04
Figures 4,5,6: Online portals that researchers
find most engaging
Residential buying
Builder/Developer Website
/Project Microsites
Aggregator Websites (such as
99acres.com, magicbricks.com,etc.)
59%
52%
47%
33%
22%
Brokers/Agent Websites (PropTiger,
SuperHomes,etc.)
Blogs / Review forums
Online Advertisements
Property and related videos
Residential renting
60%
55%
51%
44%
29%
Blogs/Review Forums
Website of Brokers/Agents
Property and Related Videos
Commercial renting
70%
47%
48%
40%
34%
Website of Brokers/Agents
Blogs/Review Forums

05
Figures7,8,9:Onlineassetsthatengageresearchers
city-wise and awareness-wise
Residential buying
Online Assets which researchers
find most engaging
Builder/Developer
Websites
Aggregator Websites Aggregator Websites
Brokers/Agent Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
62% 56%
49%
47%
37%
24%
25%
54%
47%
29%
37%
19%
Builder/Developer
Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
55% 63%
52%
48%
32%
32%
21%
51%
45%
34%
29%
22%
Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Residential renting
find most engaging
Builder/Developer
Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
64% 56%
60%
45%
40%
29%
50%
56%
48%
30%
Builder/Developer
Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
56% 64%
52%
57%
43%
31%
59%
45%
45%
28%
Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Commercial renting
Builder/Developer
Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
75% 65%
42%
47%
30%
37%
53%
46%
48%
32%
Builder/Developers
Websites
Blogs/Review Forums
67% 74%
50%
41%
43%
35%
50%
45%
38%
33%
Top Metro Small Metro Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
find most engaging

06
Key research on property portals for real estate
Most home seekers and prospective renters of commercial properties look up property portals for
understandingprevailingmarkettrendsandgatheringinformationregardingthepropertiesavailable
for possession or investment. The findings reveal that ease of access to property information and
availability of comparison mechanisms are what draw enquirers to aggregator sites.
Figures 10,11,12: Key reasons for
researching real estate online
Residential buying
Large variety of options/ease of
comparisons
Easy access to contact details
Easy access to financing and
document processing information
Access to reviews and blogs
Option to book property online
Easy access to market trends and
in-depth property information
Residential renting
comparisons
in-depth property information60%
55%
52%
43%
32%
16%
Commercial renting
comparisons
in-depth property information57%
49%
49%
46%
28%
21%
More than 55% have corroborated the former
reason for logging on to property portals and
above 50% have commented that they log in
for the latter reason.

07
Figures 13,14,15: Key reasons for real estate
research online city and awareness wise
Residential buying
Key reasons for online real estate research
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
financial information
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
65% 58%
44%
45%
43%
30%
20%
59%
51%
39%
31%
16%
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
58% 65%
50%
49%
43%
28%
18%
53%
48%
39%
33%
18%
Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Residential renting
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
60% 61%
49%
52%
46%
33%
15%
60%
52%
39%
32%
18%
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
58% 63%
58%
53%
39%
29%
18%
52%
50%
46%
36%
15%
Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Commercial renting
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
62% 51%
44%
42%
50%
35%
18%
53%
46%
49%
27%
23%
Large variety of
options
Easy access to
market trends
Easy access to
contact details
Easy access to
Access to review
and blogs
Options to book
property online
53% 60%
45%
48%
46%
25%
21%
52%
45%
53%
32%
20%
Awareness &
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage

08
Challenges posed to online real estate research
Despite the reach of internet expanding, there are several roadblocks that users and enquirers face
while surfing the internet for real estate. The inherent nature of the internet where information can
be made public without verification and the openness of allowing all and sundry to upload has often
been a hurdle to user experience. The common issues faced by users have been discussed in the
subsequent sections.
Residential buying
Key challenges faced by users while
researching online
Incorrect or
outdated information
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
Difficulty identifying
relevent websites
Unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
personal information
Difficult navigating
through information
59% 59%
47%
50%
34%
30%
13%
56%
43%
40%
35%
16%
Incorrect or
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
relevent websites
unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
through information
58% 59%
53%
49%
37%
30%
16%
51%
44%
37%
35%
13%
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Residential buying
Incorrect or
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
relevent websites
Unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
through information
56% 46%
57%
43%
41%
30%
31%
42%
43%
43%
50%
27%
Incorrect or
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
relevent websites
Unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
through information
50% 52%
49%
43%
41%
42%
30%
50%
43%
43%
39%
27%
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
researching online

09
Figures 16,17,18: Biggest challenges faced by users
on property portals
Unavailability of genuine contact information
A lot of property owners do not want to give out contact information believing it would jeopardise
their security. This often poses as a problem to users who want to directly get in touch with the
property owner for more information or striking a deal. More than 50% of respondents have come to
a consensus that this is the biggest issue with online property research.
Because the internet is an open platform, imposters and miscreants often hide behind the facade of
being propertydealersor sellersanddupe unsuspecting propertybuyersor renters. Unlessstringent
measures are adopted for protecting buyers from such imposters, less people will be inclined to
purchase or rent property via the internet.
Incorrect or outdated information
The information available on various kinds of property portals is often not updated. Those putting up
advertisements often do not take off their posts from the list displayed even after the property has
been sold or sublet. Many a time users do not update information about the property that they have
listed - the stage of completion, price, changes in specifications etc. Prior to making the listing live,
lack of scrutiny has been observed in several cases. These issues often make it difficult for a user
to gather information from the internet.Only online broker sites have been seen to offer somewhat
satisfactory information and services to users, although it is far from perfect.
Incorrect or
Lack of human or
personal contact
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
relevent websites
Unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
Low availibility of
commercial rental posts
through information
40%
41%
33%
32%
40%
25%
21%
26%
31%
21%
31%
34%
37%
30%
28%
22%
Incorrect or
Lack of human or
personal contact
Unavailibility of
owner contacts
relevent websites
Unavailibility of
information
Leakage of
personal Information
Low availibility of
commercial rental posts
through information
34%
38%
39%
36%
29%
35%
28%
26%
30%
23%
42%
27%
27%
30%
29%
20%
Research Stage
Evaluation
Stage
Commercial renting
researching online

10
Road ahead for aggregator and developer sites
Aggregators and developer sites should concentrate on improving the content available on their
sites by verifying their authenticity and relevance regularly. The target audience for realty sites is
already available which is why the scope for integration has widened dramatically. 89% of the target
audience (those households with income above across various stages of property buying and cities
`5 lakhs) of property portals are on the internet and one out of four internet users prefer researching
real estate online. The next milestone to reach for aggregator and developer sites has been laid - to
net the remaining three property enquirers who make use of print media and offline brokers.
Figure 19: Usage of internet in realty research
Use of internet in
Internet as TOP 3
By Type of City
Internet as TOP 3
By Age
Residential Buying
Metros Small Metros
Residential Renting Commercial Renting
57%
42%
54% 53%
64%
55%
Residential Buying
25-35 years 36-45 years 46-60 years 60+ years
55%
61%
78%
42%
49% 50%
43%
49%
42%
20% 20%
45%
49%
59%
65%
52%
72%
62%
49%
56%
52%
Internet as TOP 3
By Property Value
Less than
`25 Lakhs
`50 Lakhs
to 1 Crore
`25 Lakhs
to 50 lakhs
More than
`1 Crore
Less than
`10,000
`10,000
to 25,000
More than
`25,000
Less than
`50,000
`50,000
to 250,000
More than
`250,000
Internet as TOP 3
By Age
Source: Zinonov research
Residential Buying
Metros Small Metros
57%
42%
54% 53%
64%
55%
Residential Buying
25-35 years 36-45 years 46-60 years 60+ years
55%
61%
78%
42%
49% 50%
43%
49%
42%
20% 20%
Residential Buying Residential Renting Commercial Renting
45%
49%
59%
65%
52%
72%
62%
49%
56%
52%
Internet as TOP 3
By Property Value
Less than
`25 Lakhs
`50 Lakhs
to 1 Crore
`25 Lakhs
to 50 lakhs
More than
`1 Crore
Less than
`10,000
`10,000
to 25,000
More than
`25,000
Less than
`50,000
`50,000
to 250,000
More than
`250,000
Internet as TOP 3
By Gender
Residential Buying
Female Male
49% 51%
59%
52% 50%
59%

11
Rather than concentrate on Tier I cities alone, sites should concentrate on Tier II cities more as they
have shown a tremendously potent user pool. In the past 3 years, cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat,
Kanpur, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Pune have exhibited growth
in query search by almost 350%. 48% buyers in Tier II cities are influenced by the internet when
coming to a purchasing decision while 57% from Tier I cities are influenced by the internet.
Buyers seeking properties which are valued between `50 lakhs and `1 crore use the internet
extensively for moulding their purchasing decision.
Apart from uploading enriching and insightful content, property portals should strive to better
the user experience by including more services and features. The focus of property portals must
be on mobile applications and services because they derive significant user base through it.
Resale properties must be highlighted too as 50% buyers are indifferent between them and newly
constructed properties as long as the location and price bracket are satisfied.
To conclude, the future of property portals is encouraging upon the condition that the challenges
posed are overcome and target groups are rearranged for maximum conversion.
Saurabh Agrawal
Head – Communications Content &
Communities IndiaHomes
Saurabh is a seasoned marketing professional
with more than 12 years of experience across
industries & continents including Fortune 500
companies. He avidly believes that the biggest
learning happens only when you do-it-yourself
(DIY).
He has an MBA from Purdue University, USA and
is an astute visionary with great leadership skills.
He believes that those working along are not the
great workforce but are great people with great
capabilities & potential.
He has led small to big teams of great achievers
at USAA (San Antonio), A.G. Edwards (now Wells
Fargo Advisors), Magellan Health Services,
Purdue University, The Times of India, Mahuaa
Media, Impetus Media (Google Business View
Vendor) and currently heads the content,
community, campaigns and communications
team at IndiaHomes (India’s 1st FDI funded
Property Advisory Company).
He has also been to various management
institutes as a guest faculty and as a mentor to
TIE & DBS workshops for start-up entrepreneurs.
Saurabh recently started writing articles for
LinkedIn Pulse on various business aspects with
focus on Digital Marketing and Disruption.
Contact the author:
saurabh.agarwal@indiahomes.com
Source : Google Research

IndiaHomes
India World Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,
Global Business Park, Tower D, 9th Floor
Gurgaon, Haryana-122002
Phone: 1800-1022-224
Website: www.indiahomes.com

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