Union Housing & Urban Affairs Secretary, DurgaShanker Mishra unveils Housing. com-ISB’s Housing Pricing Index

Housing Pricing Index

Leading online real estate portal Housing.com and global business school, Indian School of Business (ISB) has jointly launched Housing Pricing Index (HPI), an indicator of economic activity in real-estate, the second-largest employment generating sector in India after agriculture.

The launched was organized during a virtual meet amid the presence of Union Housing & Urban Affairs Secretary, DurgaShanker Mishra and several industry leaders and academicians. The HPI will be offering monthly reports on price and quantity movement in various property markets across the country.

As per the official communique, the HPI, created in association with the Indian School of Business’ (ISB) Srini Raju Centre for IT and the Networked Economy (SRITNE), aims to serve as a tool that tracks changes in residential home prices across India’s eight major markets.

By offering useful insights into price movement, the index could help a potential homebuyer assess the appropriate time to buy a property and at the same time assist sellers in knowing the most opportune moment to sell their assets. Policymakers and financial analysts can also use it as a reliable estimate to keep track of the trends in the sector.

DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India, said, “The Housing Price Index jointly developed by the Indian School of Business and Housing.com has the potential to emerge as a good indicator of the country’s real-estate market health. The real-estate sector has been impacted due to the COVID-led slowdown and overall uncertainty. At this time, it is essential to track the growth via credible sources that will help authorities make quicker and informed decisions during such exogenous shocks. We have observed that the demand has already picked up in Q1 2021 and the sector has started to show signs of recovery. I commend and encourage the two institutions for collaborating towards this initiative to monitor the movement of housing prices and quantities in a fast-growing economy like ours.”

“Buyers as well as policymakers are mostly forced to rely on market anecdotes and guesswork about property price movements in Indian cities in the absence of quality high-frequency data, especially locality-specific data. The entire idea behind the launch of the Housing HPI is to address this issue. Aside from benefitting buyers, investors and policymakers, data from our HPI will also be immensely valuable for real estate developers who are considering a new locality to launch new developments. For real estate builders, having access to information such as this has become more crucial than ever now, with the demand landscape rapidly evolving due to the emergence of the “work-from-home” concept in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said DhruvAgarwala, Group CEO, Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com.

Indian School of Business (ISB) through its Srini Raju Centre for IT and the Networked Economy (SRITNE) is delighted to partner with Housing.com in launching the robust and comprehensive Housing Pricing Index. This indeed is a step in the right direction, andwe are sure HPI will go a long way in equipping various stakeholders take informed choices and, in the process, add more value and worth to their assets, said Rajendra Srivastava, Dean ISB.

“We look forward to launching many such programmes which will facilitate socio-economic development of the country,” he added.

This index would help decision-makers in the industry and government by providing relevant information on the real estate market and design effective action and interventions. I wish the HPI team all the best and truly value their commitment to launching the index and white paper on this subject. I hope it will drive further research in one of the most significant sectors of the economy.,” added Srivastava.

Dr. NiranjanHiranandani, National President – NAREDCO; Founder & MD – Hiranandani Group, said – “It has been a long hauling grind for the Indian Real Estate sector to undergo a system reboot on the back of various structural policies introduced recently. In the current pandemic, the sector witnessed an increased use of and reliance on technology. The transition in the Digital Era has been quite phenomenal. The need was to revolutionize the sector with a financially disciplined, accountable and compliance-friendly system. People interested in real estate – buyers and sellers – have also been going through a tough time tracking the sector and gauging the right time to take an informed decision.

Introducing the data index for Real Estate, one of the vital economic growth anchors, is a leap forward. The prime objective to launch the ‘Housing Price Index’ in association with Housing.com and ISB is to bring transparency and narrow down the trust deficit between all the concerned industry stakeholders. It will address the challenge of the paucity of well-defined data and foster companies with the right business intelligence, market insights, trends, and sentiments to sign off well-informed decisions. This new-age methodology will promote Indian Real Estate at par with global best practices”, Dr. Hiranandani added.

Prof. Deepa Mani, ISB, said “Policy makers and decisionmakers across the public and private sectors need accurate and timely information on economic activity for effective action and interventions. At present, such information is of low granularity and resolution and often fragmented and privately held, making coordination among economic actors difficult. Indices like the HPI would be especially relevant to industry and policy makers in the face of current systematic and pervasive disruptions in the economy, notably, the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Following the launch of the index, representatives from the government and industry stalwarts also shared their opinions and points of view about the ongoing pandemic situation and its impact on the industry during an interactive session.

Sharad Mittal, Executive Director | CEO-Real Estate Funds, MotilalOswal Real Estate Investment Advisors II Pvt Ltd.), said “In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted industries worldwide. India went into a countrywide lockdown, and the real estate sector, like other industries took an initial hit. However, after July last year, the housing sector saw a resurgence in demand on the back of bottomed-out prices, low mortgage rates, peak affordability, Govt. incentives and an increasing emotional value of home-ownership due to the pandemic. Several developers clocked record sales in the last 2 quarters of the previous financial year. We believe that this recovery witnessed by the sector over the last 9 months was more long-term and a was factor of strong growth-led fundamentals in the sector. While there is a hiatus right now on account of the second COVID wave, we believe that activity will boomerang quickly and demand will remain strong over the next 24-36 months” For Details – www.housingpriceindex.in

Following the launch of the index, representatives from the government and industry stalwarts also shared their opinions and points of view about the ongoing pandemic situation and its impact on the industry during an interactive session.

Elaborating on the demand for housing, Dr.Hiranandani said, that the demand for real estate is always huge, the short-term disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic notwithstanding. It is the huge costs involved in the purchase process, he said, that discouraged buyers from investing. One has to keep in mind that buyers end up paying 33% of the total purchase value in paying various government taxes. So, it might be wrong to point out that there is any deceleration as far as the demand is concerned.

“The stakeholders just have to gauge where the demand actually is and supply accordingly while the onus is on the government to lower the burden of homebuyers by offering homebuyers’ tax burden, by offering waivers stamp duty waivers,” Dr.Hiranandani added.

While also stating that RERA has been able to reinstate a sense of transparency in the sector, it has also helped the data compilation for the sector, according to Mr. Mittal.

Data and technology adoption will really reduce the risk premium for the sector, added Mr. Mittal.

Despite the unprecedented challenges that it has caused, the pandemic has also helped the sector undergo a sea-change by way of embracing technological advancements. Thanks to the presence of various technologies, one can now buy a house completely from the safety of their homes, said Mr. Agarwala.

Construction-centric technologies and blockchain technology would further transform the sector in the times to come, Mr. Agarwala added.

With due support measures in place, real estate In India has the potential to add 10% to its GDP growth in times to come, concluded Prof. Srivastava.

During the discussion, the panelists also highlighted the importance of the sector in the overall economic growth of the country while adding that reformative measures launched by the government in the past five years would act as enablers of positive change for residential real estate in India.

About Indian School of Business (ISB)

The Indian School of Business (ISB) is a global business school offering world class management education to professionals at its two LEED rated green building campuses – Hyderabad and Mohali. A rich and vibrant pool of research-oriented resident faculty, robust academic partnerships, thriving alumni network, and backing of an influential board and guidance of industry’s thought leadership has enabled ISB to fast emerge and consolidate itself as a premier global business school in the emerging markets. The school is also one of the largest providers of executive education in Asia and the most research-productive Indian management institution.

The school, over the last twenty years has grown at a rapid pace and has earned several prestigious accolades. ISB is the youngest business school to consistently rank among the top global MBA programmes. In December 2019 Poets & Quants gave ISB an integrated ranking of #16 worldwide across FT, Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek. The resident faculty is ranked in the top 25 globally in terms of per capita research productivity in the leading global management journals. ISB had the honour of receiving accreditations from the Association of MBAs (AMBA), EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). ISB gains the unique distinction of becoming the 100th business school in the world to achieve the coveted ‘Triple Crown’ accreditations- AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. ISB envisions to become an internationally top-ranked, research-driven, and independent management institute that grooms future leaders for India and the world. To know more about ISB, please visit: www.isb.edu.

About Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd.

Singapore-based technology services company, Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd., co-founded by DhruvAgarwala, Group CEO, is the country’s only full stack real estate technology platform that owns Housing.com, Makaan.com and PropTiger.com. Portals are owned by Elara and Elara is controlled by REA Group.

In October 2020 Elara announced that REA Group Ltd (ASX:REA) of Australia, has acquired a controlling stake in Elara Technologies Pte. Ltd. REA is a multinational digital advertising business specialising in property. REA Group operates Australia’s leading residential and commercial property websites – realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au and owns leading portals in many Asian countries.

It is the only player in India that offers a full range of services in the real estate space, assisting consumers through their entire home seeking journey all the way from initial search and discovery to financing to the final step of transaction closure. It offers advertising and listings products to real estate developers and agents, exclusive sales and marketing solutions to builders, data and content services, and personalised search, virtual viewing, site visits, negotiations, home loans and post- sales services to consumers for both buying and renting.

Housing.com

Founded in 2012, Housing.com is India’s most innovative real estate advertising platform for home owners, landlords, developers and real estate brokers. The company offers the largest selection of verified listings for new homes, resale homes, rentals and co-living spaces in India through a trained team of data collectors, analysts and auditors. The one-of-a-kind Data Sciences Lab at Housing.com analyses a significant body of data to allow buyers and sellers to make intelligent decisions.

PropTiger.com

PropTiger.com is India’s leading digital real estate advisory firm offering a one-stop platform for buying residential real estate. Founded in 2011 with the goal to help people buy their dream homes, PropTiger.com leverages the power of information and the organisation’s deep-rooted understanding of the real estate sector to bring simplicity, transparency and trust in the home buying process. PropTiger.com helps home-buyers through the entire home-buying process through a mix of technology-enabled tools as well as on-ground support. The company offers researched information about various localities and properties and provides guidance on matters pertaining to legal paperwork and loan assistance to successfully fulfil a transaction. Since inception, the PropTiger.com team has facilitated sales of over 30,000 homes worth nearly Rs. 20,000 crores.

Makaan.com

Makaan.com was acquired by Elara in May 2015, with a vision to establish a true “marketplace” in real estate. With consumer ratings on more than 30,000 sellers, credible listings data and real-time intelligence on property search, Makaan.com has quickly emerged as the preferred partner for consumers looking to rent, buy or sell a home. Makaan.com offers its online consumers maximum property options and has become one of the largest advertising platforms in online real estate in India with over one million residential properties listed across the country.

 

"Exciting news! Elets Banking & Finance Post is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest insights!" Click here!

Elets The Banking and Finance Post Magazine has carved out a niche for itself in the crowded market with exclusive & unique content. Get in-depth insights on trend-setting innovations & transformation in the BFSI sector. Best offers for Print + Digital issues! Subscribe here➔ www.eletsonline.com/subscription/

Get a chance to meet the Who's who of the Banking & Finance industry. Join Us for Upcoming Events and explore business opportunities. Like us on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest.