India has moved up one place to the 35th spot on JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) 2018. The country has also shown incredible improvement in the latest survey and has emerged as one of the top ten countries to register maximum improvement in transparency in real estate over the last two years.
The country’s performance over last two cycles of JLL’s GRETI indicates that it has moved by five places since 2014.
It is reported that the real estate sector’s share in India’s GDP is expected to double by 2025. The sector is going to help to create a lot of employment opportunities. That’s why I feel it is very essential for this sector, which is going to be a major driving force of the economy, to be accountable to its stakeholders.
So, what does accountability mean?
Real estate transparency is fundamental to livelihoods and the quality of life, particularly in developing markets. Transparency is a very important factor. Now better legislation and improved access to independent market data are enabling ordinary people to demand higher safety standards in buildings and feel more confident in home buying decisions.
For a potential buyer who aspires to own his dream home, buying a home is a very crucial decision in his life.
Developers need to share all the information to help buyers understand the risks better and help them make an informed decision. Similarly, for developers and contractors who have to deal with bureaucratic authority, having transparency in terms of taking permissions and paperwork automatically curbs the possibility of corruption, if any.
The reasons for improvement
Indian real estate markets have evolved lately and are organised unlike what they were a few years ago. This is only due to reforms bought in by the government like RERA and GST. Also, granting infrastructure status to affordable housing and various other steps taken towards standardising processes, procedures, and accountability guidelines have helped the industry progress.
Technological developments that have been introduced in the past two years have also played a very important role in improving transparency in this sector. For example, digitalisation of property records, getting municipal bodies to come online for clearance procedures are some of the steps that have contributed to increasing transparency in the industry.
The future of real estate
RERA has helped boost consumer confidence, along with consolidating the developer fraternity by increasing ease of doing business. Every real estate developer now is only focussed on quality and timely delivery of their projects.
I also hope that the Indian government opts for a single window clearing system. For now, transparency is a long-term goal reached by taking small steps. But in the end, it’s likely that only the most transparent market is most likely to flourish.
This article is contributed by Dhaval Ajmera, Director, Ajmera Group.
(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of RoofandFloor)