As more and more homebuyers are doing their property purchases through virtual platforms, the PropTech industry in India attracted over $551 million in 2020, surpassing the aggregate of previous year – $549 million, according to a report by leading online real estate portal Housing.com. The report titled ‘PropTech: The Future of Real Estate in India’ by the Elara Group-owned online real estate advisory portal shows that investments in the PropTech segment grew marginally up to $551 million in 2020 from $549 million in 2019. Investments in the segment during the year were at their peak in 2020 since tech-based start-up companies began entering the real estate segment in India. So far, $2.4 billion have been invested in India’s PropTech industry across 225 deals as on date.
The Housing.comreportsaid that a majority of business are still conducted throughoffline mode in the property brokerage business, estimated to be a $1,400-million ($1.4 billion) industry. The growth of PropTech in India is also indicated through the fact that even with the actual transaction culminating offline, over 50% of the real estate buying decisions take place through online searches, the report says.The report added that virtual property purchases are becoming more popular.
During the survey, 37% respondents said they were willing to close the deal completely online after one site visit. On the other hand, 47% respondents say they will be open to doing so after multiple site visits. The online surveywas conducted with respondents from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.