Funding will support the firm’s expansion across multiple cities in India and fructify its plans to enter international markets

A fast-growing company in the real estate broking sector, Homesfy Realty, has raised $1.1 million from early-stage growth investors Girish Gulati, Dnyanesh Bhatavadekar, Neha Idnany, Yogesh Bagaria, and Amit Bagaria.

The company is planning to list on the Indian bourses and has filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for SME IPO with NSE Emerge. The proceeds from the proposed offering will be used by the company for its Working capital requirements, General corporate purpose, and organic growth, the firm said in a statement.

“Real estate is poised to be a $1.5 trillion industry in the near future. As real estate developers consolidate market share via launches and construction velocity, they need the right partners to drive sales. Through the use of proprietary technology tools, rigorous processes, and talented sales agents, Homesfy simplifies the home-buying experience and is positioned to lead the channel partner sales for all major developers across India,” said Girish Gulati, who is a veteran investor in the public equity markets. Gulati has led many small companies to scale while supporting them through his large network and ample experience.

“Buying a home for personal use or as an investment continues to be a popular choice in the country. Due to the pandemic, even the reluctant youth has realized the advantages of investing in hard assets. This, coupled with the regulatory framework coming into the real estate sector through RERA, has paved the way for a growing interest in real estate transactions. We, at Homesfy, started our journey with the aim to simplify the home-buying process. With the new strengths coming in and this fund-raise, Homesfy is committed to delivering growth to its employees and investors and satisfactory services to its customers,” said Ashish Kukreja, Founder & CEO at Homesfy.in & MyMagnet.io.

Currently, Homesfy is headquartered in Mumbai and has an operational presence in 4 cities in India including Pune, Bengaluru, and Delhi NCR. With a team strength of nearly 400 employees, the firm partners with all reputed builders in the country to facilitate their real estate sales. The company has recently initiated the process of acquiring EQServ, a Mumbai-based real estate broking firm that has been facilitating residential property sales for category A+ developers across the city.

Founded a decade ago, Homesfy quickly became self-sufficient and expanded to facilitate bookings totaling Rs 1,650 Cr on its platforms in the last financial year.

Also Read: Delhi: JC Chaudhry of Aakash Education Buys Property Worth Rs 51 Cr

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By Varun Singh

• Sales data reveals that mid-to-high-end segment units are most preferred, accounting for 79% of total demand
• Demand for 2 BHK units dominates with a 38% share, followed by 3 BHK units at 26%
• Service class buyers account for 68% demand
• 26% sales driven by doctors, lawyers, CAs and other business professionals

Sales data at ANAROCK confirms that homebuyer preferences continue to evolve rapidly. Higher incomes and increasing awareness of global lifestyle and living standards are causing aspirations to transcend mere need. While the COVID-19 pandemic has rebooted the desire for ‘hard assets’ like housing, certain housing types are selling better than others. The fact that buyers are spoiled for choice allows them to pick and choose.

Certain trends become obvious when superimposing ANAROCK’s most recent sales figures on transaction data from the larger market. Buyers’ focus has clearly shifted from affordable housing (homes priced under INR 40 Lakh) to mid-end (INR 40 – 80 Lakh) and high-end homes (INR 80 Lakh to INR 1.5 Cr). This is very evident from analysing buyer behaviour in the top seven cities in the last fiscal year FY21-22 – nearly 80% of demand is for mid-end and high-end homes, with the affordable housing segment accounting for a mere 10% of the demand.

Rahul Phondge, Chief Business Officer, ANAROCK Group, says, “Chennai and Pune showcased the highest demand in the mid-end segment and accounted for nearly 60% and 59% of the total demand in these cities. Bengaluru recorded almost 56% of demand geared towards the high-end segment. Of the city’ overall housing sales, Hyderabad displayed the highest demand for luxury (17%) and ultra-luxury (8%) segment homes priced above INR 2.5 Cr. While average prices in Hyderabad are much lower than in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), property sizes in these segments are significantly larger than in MMR.”

Across the major cities, the 2 and 3 BHK typologies yielded the maximum demand, accounting for 64% of the overall demand. 2 BHK units are most popular in Chennai, where nearly 67% of sales during the fiscal year were for this configuration. Bengaluru sold the most 3 BHK units, which accounted for 49% of overall sales during the year, closely followed by Hyderabad with 44%.

National Capital Region (NCR) 

In Delhi-NCR, 4BHK+ and plots stole the show. The preference for independent and low-density living resulted in 4BHK accounting for 17% of sales, and plots accounting for 16% during the fiscal year. The region also witnessed 16% of the overall demand in 1RK/Studio category homes at the other end of the spectrum. End-users accounted for 93% of transactions, with two-thirds hailing from the service class.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR)

Due to MMR’s urban sprawl and hectic market activities in peripheral locations, the demand for mid-range and high-end homes dominates. Mid-range housing accounted for 46% of overall demand during FY21-22, while high-end homes accounted for 39%. The preference for 2BHK units is rising, accounting for 50% of the demand. The prospect of future price appreciation is also attracting investors, with approx. 13% of buyers clearly stating that they are investing for the long-term.

On studying the buyer profiles, it emerges that 64% are from the service class, and 23% are from the business communities. This diversity indicates a healthy mix that will help the market withstand economic disruptions.

Bengaluru

The Tech Halli also saw increasing interest from investors during the last fiscal. Nearly 16% of home purchases were by people focused on long-term investment. A significant part of this demand appears to be fuelled by an appetite for second homes in the city’s peripheral locations. While the final verdict on the future of workplaces is yet to emerge, a hybrid model is likely to be more popular, especially among employees of the IT-ITeS sector.

Socially distanced living in the peripheral regions to ensure better pandemic safety protocols has also increased demand for plots and villas. These assets accounted for approx. 12% of transactions. This group of buyers experienced minimal or no professional impact from the pandemic and had accrued significant savings due to limited scope for general consumption.

Despite the recent marginal hike, interest rates are still attractively low, while ongoing government incentives still work well for first-time end-user buyers and second home investors. As prices begin to rise and the mortgage rate hardens, the current market dynamics may change.

Also Read: Rising property prices have boosted present homeowners’ home equity

The post Service Class Dominates Homebuying appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

When it comes to selling or renting a house in several cases the religion of the buyer does come in to play. Such cases are too many when it comes to Mumbai and nearby areas.

Recently several advertisements popped up on property portals where sellers or brokers had mentioned ‘Only Muslims Allowed.”

For example, an advertisement with the tag ‘Only Muslims Allowed’ was seen on the website of NoBroker.

The property is located in Western Suburbs of Mumbai. When contacted NoBroker, they responded, “NoBroker doesn’t allow any discrimination. The person has put this in the building name/address field. NoBroker is getting it removed. Also, they are developing algorithm to start checking address field also.”

The mention was later removed from the advertisement on the website of NoBroker.

Similar advertisements popped up on the property portal of squareyards.com. On this website one could find multiple advertisements with Only Muslims Allowed.

For example this advertisement on the website is about a property available on rent in Pali Hill.

The price for the 2 BHK apartment on rent is Rs 75,000 but again ‘Only For Muslims.’

Another flat available in Mahim was only for Muslim family. There were multiple such advertisements.

A detailed email sent to squareyards.com seeking their comment got us no response.

Another advertisement posted on a property portal clearly mentioned that the flat was available on rent in Mira Road but only for a ‘Muslim party.’

In city like Mumbai there are many areas where a specific community is allowed only to buy or rent a home.

There are just many barricades that exists on several levels. For example there are many societies which do not rent homes to a single woman. Or for that matter even a bachelor is not allowed in many buildings.

There are societies and many examples are available where Muslims are denied homes only because of their religion.

When asked Adv Vinod Sampat for his opinion on this, he quoted a case and said, “The Supreme Court in Zoroastrian societies matter has allowed members only of Zoroastrian community to reside in said society.”

Actor Aamir Ali had way back in 2007 reportedly claimed that a housing society in Andheri had denied to sell him a house because of his religion.

The trend is not new at all, where people try to sell homes only to a buyer from a specific religion.

This report in 2015 had exposed how several property portals had advertisements that clearly mentioned ‘Only Muslims Allowed.’

There also exists another bias, that is where, many owners don’t rent or sell their flats to those who eat non-vegetarian food.

So, in many cases it is not just religion, gender, marital status even your food habits that can keep you away from the home you like.

Also Read: Muslims are allowed in Adani Project

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