The moment of truth for the real estate sector has at last arrived. Embrace Digital or perish! Sadly, it took a pandemic for the real estate pundits rooted in their highly conservative mindsets, to wake up from their laidback slumber and scurry for change.
A hardcore physical business sector in its entirety for decades, the reigning digital ecosystem of buying homes at the click of a mouse is the ultimate recipe now for the dammed real estate sector to haul it out of its abyss.
While disruptive pressures were already building on the real estate sector with proptech startups like AirBnB and WeWork resetting the rules and tech-savvy customers catching up to the delights the digital realm had to offer, the real estate sector consumed by its primitive business manners, balked at shifting from its linear process to a completely different one.
A slave of its own habits
The attitude of “why interfere, if it isn’t broken” had entrenched into the real estate community so much that it shuddered from rethinking their business for the digital age. Over the past few months during the nationwide lockdown, the real estate sector was one of the hardest hits as property businesses got completely shunted, construction stopped, and new property launches stalled indefinitely.
The real estate sector failed to realize all these years that times have changed; the shopping centre has gone online and much like e-commerce, convenience, variety of choices and improved consumer experience are what home shoppers are looking for.
So, when the pandemic caught the realty sector unawares, it had to swallow its ego and take the road towards digital on war-footing.
Change of fate & a new dawn
If real estate bigwigs had harboured the thought that putting the entire home-buying journey online was a risk too big, they were astounded at the staggering home sale figures worth crores that were recorded during the lockdown and the months following it.
Homebuyers keen to buy homes during the pandemic took to online real estate portals to view properties from their homes via virtual home tours & 3D walkthroughs, spoke to developers and channel partners through video chat mediums and booked properties by way of secure, digital transaction tools.
Real estate developers looking at the surge in interest of homebuying on online real estate portals, dished out attractive pre-payment plans, freebies and cancellation options, to woo homebuyers.
Needless to say, this neo-homebuying process resonated well with home buyers owing to the comfort and convenience of homebuying, deeper engagement, and easy and transparent transaction mediums.
Digital homebuying-the default mode in years to come
The phenomenal success of digital home sales tantamount to the fact that not all businesses need the age-old brick-and-mortar concept to thrive. In times of the ongoing pandemic where there is a strong emphasis on social distancing, digital real estate platforms have become a boon for home buyers as they allow buyers and sellers to seamlessly connect with each other.
Real estate developers say that most homebuyers who have booked their homes online haven’t expressed the need for site visits, looking at the efficiency and transparency of the whole process. This transition to digital has been an eye-opener for developers as they are able to understand customer requirements faster and serve them accordingly, which speeds up the decision-making process, resulting in faster closing of deals.
As if one cue, homebuyers have opined that the ability to ask questions spot on and look at all Real Estate Information Online in a shorter time while bypassing extensive paperwork to book homes digitally has been a wonderful experience for them, something which they had been yearning for long.
NRI Homebuyers have wholeheartedly seconded this revolution as they prefer to interact online with developers, and book homes digitally which cuts time and travel efforts to sites or offices of developers. The transparency of online home buying with secured payment gateways has also rubbed off well on the foreign diaspora.
Given the positive response that emanated from Digital Real Estate Platforms, it is safe to say that digital homebuying will remain a default mode in the years to come. Homebuyers looking to minimize physical interaction will increasingly take to online real estate platforms to book homes.
Real estate developers, now wary of the digital phenomenon, will look to partner with leading technology brands and pump millions of dollars for adopting newer technologies to finetune the Online Home Buying process and bring innovative ways to communicate with homebuyers.
Understanding customer homebuying behaviour through AI & Machine Learning to target the right customers will gain importance as developers will look to bring the lost sentiment back to the market.
All in all, the stage is set for the realty sector to trump the pandemic and get back to its heydays riding on digital technologies and platforms; the win is almost close.
