With the pandemic sweeping in, evolution became the need of the hour. The new normal has further accentuated the importance of Proptech. To understand more on this, RoofandFloor in association with The Hindu Group hosted a webinar on “Virtual Sales and Realty Tours: The Future of High-Tech Home Buying.”
On the panel were Rahul Phondge, CBO, Residential Services, ANAROCK Property Consultants, A Shankar, Chief Operating Officer, Strategic Consulting, JLL, and Nikilesh, Managing Partner, and NG Developers. The session was chaired by Thejaswi Udupa, CTO, RoofandFloor.
The discussion emphasised on changing customer landscape and buying behaviour, changing marketing strategies of developers, and digitalisation across the customer journey.
Different perspectives
Starting the discussion, A Shankar said, “The cities of tomorrow will be built on technology- the way we live and do business. Usage of data on a digital ecosystem is going to change cities and position them better in this competitive world.”
He further explained the impact of technology-led innovations in urban development and the real estate space in four broad categories. These include:
- Ecosystem led innovation: Integrating technology-based innovations with city planning can help improve efficiency, sustainability and liveability while creating a more transparent and competitive business environment. Technology solutions can enhance the overall city smartness by targeting various stakeholders such as government, investors, citizens, and the environment.
- Services led innovation– This is all about Proptech. The internet has already become the starting point of property searches for real estate buyers and investors. Developers are also adapting to new advanced construction methods to reduce the time of construction and bring in efficiency. While the housing sector has been relatively slower in technology adoption, we expect a lot of newer Proptech services in the times to come.
- Product led innovation: Drones has observed exponential growth in the last few years, especially as a tool for data capturing, processing, monitoring and delivering.
- Space led innovation: Developing smart buildings by using IoT-based technologies.
Reiterating the same, Nikhilesh too emphasised on the importance of technology for developers. Giving a different perspective, he added that customers should first have trust in a developer. Developers, on the other hand, should focus on showing what is exactly on the site. If there is a lack of trust, the use of technology (in home buying) will minimise over a period of time.
Rahul Phondge emphasised on the consumer perspective. He said, “Over the last two quarters, consumers have been forced or persuaded to use technology for anything and everything. And interestingly, India as a market has managed to transit from an offline format to an online format very smartly.”
Phondge further added that developers are going a step ahead to provide convenience for the customers. “The conventional format of buying real estate has gone down as people are little hesitant to visit the site. This is where technological interventions come in place – by providing all the necessary information about a project under one platform.”
“Technology has clearly simplified the discovery part of homebuyers’ journey,” he concluded.
Participation
The webinar saw the participation of about 700 users through Zoom and YouTube. Overall, there were over 1,000 registrations and several questions from the participants during the live session.
This webinar was a part of Trueview – India’s largest virtual property fair that is being held online from October 1 to October 31, 2020. Presented by Casagrand, the property fair digitally showcases a wide spectrum of properties from reputed developers across Chennai and Bengaluru.
Missed the webinar? Don’t worry! You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfKyACsjFaI