Though the real estate sector had suffered a huge setback during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also been a major rising sector post-pandemic due to technological advancement, industrial development, and ease of business. Investors are now heading their plans to safeguard their investment strategy and future in the real estate sector. Local lands or properties are often sold out rapidly through broker participation to avoid misleading and follow sequential procedures. Today, in the era of liberalisation, this liberal monetary policy of 1991 has been a huge reform in the real estate sector as this has allowed various multinational companies to enter India and invest in property. India has also been the most impressive land due to its fertility and cultural diversity. The value of a property if invested in 1995 and the same property value in 2022 would double it. Imagine how well you can earn in this sector. Do think about it wisely for your betterment.

Post-Independence Era Of Real Estate

Transforming from the Zamindari system to renting out well-furnished office spaces and working as per norms of the Indian Government had an innovative journey; the real estate market reached a long way. The Government started building up the institutions such as the housing and urban development company in 1970, the city and industrial development corporation in 1971, national housing bank in 1998 to enlighten and strengthen the residential real estate industry. Considering that real estate is an elite industry across the world, there has been a constant focus in countries to have more transparency in the sector through regulations and technological advancement. India has witnessed many policies recently, but certain milestones have broadened the country for decades.

Besides, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in real estate was first permitted in 2005, which made the investors broaden their ways of funding and mature their strategy in the industry in business practices and product offerings. This FDI initiative has been further liberalised in recent years to record the equity inflows and upcoming foreign investors or developers in India.

The Real Estate Regulation and Development act (RERA) was enforced on 1st May 2017 to ensure that unscrupulous developers do not deceive home buyers. This Act was introduced to make the buyers confident and acknowledge the highly fragmented residential real estate industry with proper information. 

The Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) were first opened in 2014 to allow small-ticket investments in commercial real estate in the country. Due to rising rentals across the micro-markets, REITs offer an impressive way to trade in prime commercial markets. The emergence and expansion of IT and ITES development in India had a major turndown since the Y2K bug, in which India left its imprint on the entire world. 

While the Government’s role is significant, considering the market conditions, geopolitical events and happenings, socio-economic reforms in population, and the speciality of changing time itself are key fundamentals in the evolution of industrial sectors in the case of developing economies like India. The recent situation caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic will have some adverse effects on the growth of the Real Estate Sector, but recovery shall steadily bring all signs of progress with government plans.

Technological Innovation- Can We Consider It?

The real estate tech sector is gradually being map-out by dynamic market conditions and shifts in consumer behaviours. A nuclear technological solution won’t reinstate the real estate industry, but rather the reforms in the industry will be enabled by technology, embracing it by the leaders initiating it. The solution won’t be found in acquiring hardware but in accepting innovative solutions that will be majorly software solutions, applications, and platforms. This technological advancement and innovation continues to shape the real estate industry, and emerging real estate tech companies generate an opportunity to become leaders in the new digital real estate ecosystem industry. 

Sudden changes in consumer behaviour due to COVID-19, availability of real-estate data in a digitalised format, and improvements in Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, i.e. AR/VR technology, should stabilise the development in this space. The buying and selling systems are steady and easy to adapt, catering to the requirements of every stakeholder, from a real estate agent desiring to sell their house to a landlord searching for his ideal tenant or potential homeowner.

Pillars Of This Innovation

• Big Data

Accepting the desire of investing in real estate to live independently in that investment, big data has been a core source of correct and relevant data for influencing the common investors for their business. Due to this growth, Real estate companies aim to focus on the correct clients who need to know who they are, when they plan to buy, where they observe, and lastly, how they reach them most effectively. We are witnessing data on property transactions and other legal documents, geospatial data, and Google Maps data. The real estate regulatory authority (RERA) has quarterly data on the construction status and collections of all projects.

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are the art and soul of computers, teaching themselves how to enhance the way of performing their tasks based on previous experiences or through pattern recognition. These systems are in hand by real estate investors to effectively control and manage expenses, minimise risks and gain higher returns using algorithms that are designed to predict the individual investor concerns. Real estate search analytics is grooming its way with prospective buyers matched with desirable properties, amplifying the broker’s labour.

Along with this, Building Technology, Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Real Estate on Demand, Real Estate Operations Automation, integration of smart home technology, the power of geo-location and localisation, and also the core source of the world ‘Social Media Platform’ are some of the factors influencing the technological advancement in relation with real estate sector. 

As India is a developing nation, some challenges are still a big question in the hands of policymakers and economists for grooming the real estate sector at large. A crisis like COVID-19, economic renewal, Capital Market Risk, Public and private Indebtedness, affordable housing, technology and workflow, space utilisation, and most prominent, Infrastructure for investing in real estate.   

The fact that ‘Every Problem Is Accompanied With A Solution’ is true. India has been innovative in terms of developing sectors like Economy and Investment. The real estate sector had emerged with 11.6% home value growth over the next 12 months, i.e. May 2022 –April 2023. Let us learn the importance of investing in the real estate sector for indefinite purposes to have an early and safe livelihood.