In the booming India property market, leading Indian real estate portal Magic Bricks.com has identified a niche: the non-resident Indian (NRI) population. It held a property fair at the weekend aimed specifically at the NRI population in Singapore.
About 150 properties worth nearly one billion rupees (S$37 million) were sold at the fair, with the most popular real estate being in New Delhi and Bangalore. This was due to the ongoing property boom in these two cities, said PS World Events, the Dubai-based organiser of the fair.
Organised for the first time in Singapore, the company said 2,650 visitors came over the course of the three-day fair - all of them NRIs. The organisers and exhibitors were encouraged by the response.
‘With the tremendous growth in the Indian real estate market, the NRI population has shown keen interest in real estate back home,’ said Rita Dixit, executive president of developer Jaypee Greens.
‘All the exhibitors were very happy; people came with the intention of buying and actually put down cheques,’ said MI Sait, PS World Events’ chief executive. In fact, the show’s success has prompted them to plan for another show here probably in September, he added. A similar fair has also been held in Dubai and another one will be held in Malaysia, aimed at the same NRI segment.
‘Our group believes that professionally organised property fairs are the need of the hour since the real estate boom in India needs to be explored at international levels and the developers can directly interact with the prospective buyers,’ said Surendra Hiranandani, managing director of the Hiranandani Group.
The current real estate market in India is believed to be worth US$16 billion and is estimated to reach US$60 billion by 2010. The exhibitors taking part in the fair are bullish on the so-called ‘reverse brain drain’ taking place in India at the moment, where a GDP growth rate tipped to reach 9 per cent this year is encouraging more overseas-based Indians to return.
The property portal claims over six million page views a day and over 80,000 daily hits by property buyers. It is taking the initiative to reach out to this huge potential market by establishing a physical presence in key markets to complement its website.
Source: The Business Times, 01 May 2007
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