The year gone by was a major landmark in the journey called Square Yards, where the real estate transaction platform, blatantly broke its own records & set new industry benchmarks. By the 4th quarter of 2016, the company reached a total GTV of USD 1 billion, an achievement unparalleled in the history of Indian real estate industry. It made an annual revenue of over USD 30 million-highest in the primary residential transaction space in India.
The company also extended its international presence with the opening of new offices in Canada. This has taken the total office count to 23 offices in 9 countries. It’s relentless endeavor towards helping discerning homebuyers find the right home has also been acknowledged by the awards fraternity. In 2016, Square Yards has been bestowed with numerous prestigious awards including, Entrepreneur of the year 2016- Real Estate by Franchise India; Real Estate Investment Advisory of the year-2016 by GCC; Emerging brand of the year 2016- Global Marketing Excellence Awards; Luxury Real Estate Brokerage (Pan India) 2016 by ALREN & many more.
Platform for Global Realty
Global contingencies & a spiraling Indian HNI have made various international developers consider Indian market to expand their business. Square Yards with a strong of international presence coupled with in-depth understanding of global realty is increasingly becoming the de-facto platform for international developers looking to tap into Indian realty market. The real estate advisor partnered with a host of reputed global developers such as Deyaar, Damac, Danube & others to help them sell their international properties to Indian HNI.
Pioneered the Hybrid Model
While the real estate industry still prefers clinging onto the binary model, that proposes real estate transaction as a split between either the orthodox sales people approach or the emerging online models; Square Yards adopted a multi modal approach, that is a rich blend between, extensive on-ground sales force, inventive digital marketing & vibrant global events.
The new model pioneered by Square Yards also called the hybrid model of doing business, has been a tremendous hit with the developers & buyers alike & have helped the transaction platform move large inventories of properties in India & abroad in a short span of time.
An icing in cake for Square Yards has been in November 2016, when the Private Equity (PE) arm of Mr. Anil Ambani led Reliance Industries, invested USD 12 million into Square Yards.
2017 & Way Ahead
In the times to come, Square Yards will continue working towards consolidating its leadership position in the primary real estate transaction space. The infusion of fresh capital will give more vigor to the real estate transaction platform in terms of adding to the length & breadth of the company. The company plans to hire more employees in both domestic & international offices. Around 15 new international frontiers are expected to be added in 2017 to help the company penetrate further into the NRI & international space.
The times are also conducive for growth for technology enabled transparent real estate transaction platform such as Square Yards. With the government’s surgical strike on black money & implementation of the RERA, real estate industry in India is set for one of the most exciting times ahead & Square Yards is perfectly positioned to make a bigger mark on property transaction value system.
Although, the impact of demonetization has been inimical on the secondary real estate resulting into price corrections, but in 2017 price reduction should push up the volume of sales. A substantial part of the volume surge will fall under the primary real estate space, that will eventually translate into higher revenue for companies such as Square Yards, with its strong foothold in the segment.
