A portal named housing for all has been started by builders body. The portal will help home buyers directly book flats of their choice.
By Varun Singh
Builders body have woken up to the importance of online medium. National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), an apex body, formed under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, announced the country’s first e-commerce housing portal – ‘HousingForAll.Com’.
Developers claim this is being done to create a trusted, secured and seamless journey for home buyers in India and abroad. The e-commerce housing portal will host a 45-day All-India Online Home-Buying Festival for ready-to-move-in homes, with over 1,000 projects expected to be listed.
It is a joint industry effort supported by NAREDCO, CREDAI-MCHI, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Builders Association of India (BAI), and Indian Merchant Chambers (IMC).
Created by the Industry for the Industry, this platform seeks support from respective state governments, RERA authorities, developers, banks and housing finance institutions to create a transparent and seamless journey for home buyers.
Dr. Niranjan Hiranandani, National President, NAREDCO, said, “The sector has gone through turbulent times so far. With improving sales and a recovery that we have witnessed in the past year, it is time that the industry joins hands and helps the consumer quickly make a purchase decision. The portal is designed for the all industry stakeholders with a powerful backend platform which manages and displays the most accurate inventory data in the market, and allows buyers to book their flats directly online.”
Hiranandani further added, “Buyers will have the ability to see floor plans, aerial videos, amenities, unit specifications, even video walkthroughs for each project.”
The online home buying initiative is for projects that have received occupancy certificates (OCs) and is directed towards creating a seamless, safe and transparent home-buying experience for home buyers. It is also meant for creating positive sentiment for the real estate industry, boosting confidence and faith amongst home buyers, enhancement of liquidity flow in the industry and contributing to growth of the economy.
Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India, said, “This also compliments the target of the government’s mega scheme, ‘Housing for all’. The target of housing for all seems to be closer and achievable. 1.03 crore housing units have been sanctioned. Of this, construction of over 60 lakh units has already begun under the Scheme. 32 lakh units have been delivered for possession.”
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The portal will be open for one month only for the real estate developers to register their projects (Up to February 13, 2020). The portal will be opened for home buyers with a 45-day sale period starting from February 14th, 2020. For the initial 15 days, buyers will be able to view offers and shortlist their homes and will be able to start making the purchase of homes from March1, 2020 till March 31, 2020.
The portal will help buyers in accessing best priced inventory by builders for a limited time to take full advantage of best pricing. Buyers can also shop in comfort of home and book directly online. Buyers will be able to view complete listing info including floor plans, room dimensions, video tours of units and external views looking out from windows / balconies. They will also be allowed to create and save custom micro searches and properties to list of favourites.
Buyers will also be able to directly book/reserve a unit from the portal with a refundable payment of only Rs 25,000. They will also get ‘Money Back Guarantee’, where their initial buyer deposit made on portal is completely secured and fully refundable in case buyer elects not to purchase the unit. Customers will be immediately notified if any units they have shortlisted are already sold.
According to the industry reports, more than 1 lakh ready-to-move-in homes are available at present in the market and nearly 2.75 lakh new ready-to-move-in homes are expected to be added to the market over the next one year. It is expected that this entire ready-to-move-in inventory to be available on sale through this e-commerce platform.
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