Magicbricks Consumer Search Trends Show 61% Spike in Online Property Seekers
With the implications of policy interventions in Indian real estate settling in there are tell-tale signs of recovery - Magicbricks’ consumer search trends reveal that there has been a whopping 61 percent rise in property seekers over the last 12 months, with the number of active property seekers going up sharply YoY from 3.4 Lakh in July 2016 to 5.5 Lakh in September 2017.
Though on-ground transactions are yet to pick steam, there has been an 18 percent rise in returning users over the last quarter (July to September, 2017) indicating a positive shift in consumer sentiment towards what has otherwise been a muted real estate industry for the last few years. The rise in returning users could be attributed to the fact that consumers are not exiting the market out of despair but are taking longer to close deals. “Deal-seeking” is the new normal and developers and agents would do well to work on strategies on how to close a transaction in a buyer driven market.
Sudhir Pai, CEO of Magicbricks, said, “The number of returning users rising by 18 percent in just one quarter is a testament to fact that property seekers are searching vigorously than ever before. A returning property seeker is defined as someone who has been in the market for over a month. The rise in returning users indicates that end-users haven’t exited the market, but are taking longer to finalise a transaction. The growth trend over the last 12 months seems to continue from the last quarter with a 4 percent sequential quarter on quarter growth. At a city-level in Delhi-NCR, Pune Mumbai and Hyderabad, we have seen growth varying from 3 to 10 percent on a sequential basis.”
These cities have shown a robust growth of over 35 percent from last year with Hyderabad leading the pack at 66 percent growth. Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata have had a muted increase in the number of buyers sequentially but have given over 30 percent of growth as compared to July 2016.
There are multiple factors driving the current jump in consumer demand and changes in consumer preference. With supply in abundance, it is now a buyers’ market.
