Ankit Kansal, Founder & Managing Director, 360 Realtors, 0
In conversation with CEO Insights, Ankit shares his thought on how the real estate industry is
embracing technology for the future.
1. VR (Virtual Reality) in Real Estate Industry is still in its infancy. When will it finally hit the mainstream?
The time has finally come for Virtual Reality (VR) based products to take off in Indian Real Estate. If medical consultation can be availed through virtual calls and cars can be customized, then what is stopping Real Estate?
VR has stayed in Real Estate for the past four-five years as a part of the digital road map proposed by realtors. Despite detailed discussions, only limited maneuvering by industry players was exhibited and Indian Real Estate remained largely an offline business.
However, the recent COVID crisis has proved to be the inflection point spurring wider technology adoption. Indian Real Estate has also demonstrated a major makeover, as everyone across the value chain from the developers to the advisories to the homebuyers is actively embracing the new medium. Digital launches of property, usage of videocalls/zooms, and the success of virtual properties shows are pointers in the right direction.
By 2025, VR in the Real estate will generate around $2.5 billion and a sizable part will come from the Indian market as well.
2. Instant Gratification and how is it impacting the Real Estate business?
It is not exactly about Instant gratification. Real Estate is a high involvement decision and it will always have some element of offline in it. Real Estate transactions can’t be completely done online.
However, in the face of limited physical interactions, now the Online to Offline (O2O) model in Real Estate is tilting more towards online with physical site visits coming into play only in the final stages of decision making.
3. Home showings of the future may be more about demonstrating what a home can do than showing
the spaces that comprise it. Where are we now with regards to this trend?
Home showing is now increasingly becoming a blend of rich experience and convenience. Potential homebuyers now realize there is no need to drive long distances through heavy traffic to inspect an open house during weekends. Rather the same can be conveniently done virtually at their home.
In the times to come, gamification, Virtual Realties, Augmented Realities, animated home tours will continue to gain steams. These tours can be made guided or interactive (or maybe a mix of both). It can be further tailor-made to customer’s requirements. For instance, digitally furniture can be added, home coloring can be changed, alternateinterior designs can be tried, layouts can be altered to give a better experience, and help the buyer in making informed decisions.
Already numerous Studio specialized in VR & AR-based technologies have started coming up in Bangalore, Pune, & NCR. Developers and Realtors are also upgrading their technology bandwidth to develop them inhouse. For instance, we are also developing similar products at our Pune technology office.
4. What are the trends for 2020 that are likely to take over in the Real Estate space?
Post-COVID, significant changes will continue to unfold in Indian Real Estate. We are going to see high octane digitization across the value chain. From day to day operations to marketing & sales to CRM, technology will deepen its foothold. The role of digitization would not just be delimited to business continuity or expand marketing reach but also to shorten operational cycles, make data-backed decisions, offer new visualization based experiencesto customers, & reduce the cost of lead acquisition.
Another major change will be seen in terms of demand dynamics, as product offerings will be fine-tuned to match the new normal. There is a rising demand for new product types. People are increasingly opting for large-sized homes in peripheral areas that can offer a peaceful atmosphere to continue Work from Home (WFH) at a relatively affordable price. There will be a rising demand for townships. The incremental rise in demand for second homes,independent farmhouse livings, holiday homes are also visible. In the commercial, real estate demand for warehousing will rise due to an increase in e-Commerce activities.
In the times to come, gamification, Virtual Realties, Augmented Realities, animated home tours will continue to gain steams. These tours can be made guided or interactive (or maybe a mix of both). It can be further tailor-made to customer’s requirements. For instance, digitally furniture can be added, home coloring can be changed, alternateinterior designs can be tried, layouts can be altered to give a better experience, and help the buyer in making informed decisions.
The role of digitization would not just be delimited to business continuity or expand marketing reach but also to shorten operational cycles, make data-backed decisions, offer new visualization based experiences to customers, & reduce the cost of lead acquisition
Already numerous Studio specialized in VR & AR-based technologies have started coming up in Bangalore, Pune, & NCR. Developers and Realtors are also upgrading their technology bandwidth to develop them inhouse. For instance, we are also developing similar products at our Pune technology office.
4. What are the trends for 2020 that are likely to take over in the Real Estate space?
Post-COVID, significant changes will continue to unfold in Indian Real Estate. We are going to see high octane digitization across the value chain. From day to day operations to marketing & sales to CRM, technology will deepen its foothold. The role of digitization would not just be delimited to business continuity or expand marketing reach but also to shorten operational cycles, make data-backed decisions, offer new visualization based experiencesto customers, & reduce the cost of lead acquisition.
Another major change will be seen in terms of demand dynamics, as product offerings will be fine-tuned to match the new normal. There is a rising demand for new product types. People are increasingly opting for large-sized homes in peripheral areas that can offer a peaceful atmosphere to continue Work from Home (WFH) at a relatively affordable price. There will be a rising demand for townships. The incremental rise in demand for second homes,independent farmhouse livings, holiday homes are also visible. In the commercial, real estate demand for warehousing will rise due to an increase in e-Commerce activities.