Under-construction properties are once again catching NRI home buyers’ attention. As per a recent study by Housing.com, NRIs are eyeing under-construction properties in India with a renewed interest following the implementation of new real estate law RERA, that aims to protect home buyers from fly-by-night developers.
The report notes that project delays in the past few years have resulted in resulted in investors and NRI buyers shying away from under-construction projects. Since the time 100% FDI was allowed in the sector, the NRI investment has substantially increased. Under-construction properties, which otherwise used to be top-most favorite real estate investment option for NRIs, took a bad blow and was ignored for a long time.
However, due to recent changes in intervention law like RERA and also due to reduction of GST on under-construction homes from 12 per cent to 5 per cent, the trend of opting for under-construction properties is once again picking up.
The preference ratio for ready-to-move-in and under-construction properties was 67:33, but now the ratio stands at 56:44, as per the report stated by ET.
Apart from changes in Indian real estate, it is the currency equation that is also playing the part. A stronger dollar has renewed NRI interest in India’s property markets, the report said, adding that the leads and visits on Housing and Makaan.com have improved by 30-40 per cent from last year.
Talking about the geographic, NRIs from the US, the UAE, the UK and Singapore are seen having the keenest interest in Indian real estate, and form about 55 per cent of the buyer base, with US alone accounts for 26.5 per cent of the bulk of users. Other than these buyers, there has been phenomenal growth in the number of users from Malaysia, Kuwait and Canada.
Location-wise, NCR is one of the most favoured destination for residential real estate investment. It is followed by Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune.