As the real estate sector presents promising times ahead in 2024, property consultancies are upbeat about the prospects of real estate brokerage business in the New Year. Torbit Realty spoke to a cross-section of real estate consultants about the outlook for the real estate brokerage business in 2024.
Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks
Throughout 2023, the real estate sector demonstrated remarkable progress characterised by robust demand, improved supply and heightened interest from millennials and Gen Z in real estate investment. This growth is expected to continue in 2024 as macro-economics and demand fundamentals remain favourable and robust. Anticipating a more balanced market, we foresee property prices to stabilize in response to sustained increase in housing supply. We also expect demand to maintain its upward trajectory, especially in Tier 2 towns, reflecting substantial growth prospects in these regions.
The outlook for the real estate brokerage industry looks promising, given the anticipated growth of the Indian real estate market. In the face of industry transformation driven by digitization, brokerage companies need to adapt and upskill, utilizing tech advancements to upgrade their services. Through proactive adaptation and ongoing evolution, industry players can effectively navigate challenges and capitalize on the opportunities that lie ahead.
Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman, Anarock
In 2024 despite high interest rates and global headwinds, residential demand will sustain. The enduring strength of the residential market spells good news for all stakeholders including consultancies with good market depth and tech enablement. The latter will be a key differentiation for the brokerages in 2024 as a major part of the home discovery journey now takes place online. The ability to generate and harness demand via technology will separate the sheep from the goats in the years to come.
Going forward, brokerages with the right technology tools will prosper and gain increasing market share and those who lack the will, will find the market increasingly tough to navigate and leverage. In that respect, 2024 will be a defining year for real estate consultants , especially those who specialise in housing.
Ankit Kansal, MD 360 Realtors
The year 2024 will be an eventful year for the USD 4.79 billion real estate brokerage industry. The Indian real estate industry which has a size of USD 256 billion (including commercial categories) will see better organization structure marked by scaling up of technology, marketing expenditures and operational bandwidth. Presently the rate of organization in the brokerage industry is close to 20 percent and this will surely rise further.
Offering transparent and unbiased advisory, proper hand holding and last-mile support are becoming integral to successfully running a brokerage /advisory business. This will further fuel the demand for organized and structured players which can offer professional and institutional quality services. While existing players are expected to expand fast, the market is fertile for new entities, offering full-stack tech services in the area of property advisory to enter the space.
Vikas Wadhawan, CFO, REA India & Business Head, PropTiger.com
The residential real estate market has shown a strong recovery post-pandemic and the momentum shows no signs of slowing down. As home buyers and sellers navigate this crucial financial decision, brokers continue to play a significant role. Brokers are experiencing growth in their business on the back of real estate resurgence, capitalizing on strong demand and growing prices. The brokerage landscape is evolving fast and savvy brokers today embrace technology, leveraging data-driven marketing and superior client service to stand out.
Amidst this boom, a crucial aspect remains unaddressed- regulations. While RERA has addressed this need in the primary (new homes) market, the rental and resale market still remains unregulated. Real estate plays a significant role in India’s GDP and brokers are key stakeholders. Just like RERA brought accountability to developers and intermediaries in the new homes segment, similar regulation is required in the rental and resale market to bring accountability and transparency in this sector to further fuel growth in the real estate brokerage industry.
Vinod Thakkar, Founder & CEO, Squarefeet India
The future of real estate brokerage firms in India seems bright due to the advent of advanced technologies. For instance, Metaverse is a new technology that promises very high potential for real estate brokerage firms. There are 10 lakh real estate brokers out of which approximately 80000 are registered brokers. Forward-thinking real estate brokers across the country have stayed relevant by adopting groundbreaking technologies more than any other service-based industry. Real estate brokers understand how difficult it can be to navigate the housing market and how clients are always looking for assistance.
Lack of skilled brokers may impact the overall quality of service provided to clients. Realizing this, client-driven brokerage firms are emphasizing on training their brokers so they can better understand the needs of their clients in order to make their home-buying and home selling experiences seamless. As a result real estate brokerage companies are taking steps to groom their agents/brokers in the best possible way in order to stay on top of clients’ minds and generate more revenue. Furthermore, regular training sessions will not only upgrade the skills of real estate brokers but also help standardize the procedure for handling transactions by real estate agents, backed by the companies.
Gaurav Mavi, Co-Founder, BOP Group
The bright prospects for the real estate sector in 2024, hold a lot of promise for the brokerage industry. Particularly, for the Delhi-NCR real estate market, I forsee an exciting trajectory for the New Year as the proposed inauguration of the first phase of Noida International Airport this year, will trigger a surge in economic activities, subsequently resulting in heightened demand for real estate sector. This is particularly true for the real estate brokerage sector which is on the brink of a significant transformation.
As property consumers opt for digital platforms and novel approaches, the brokerage industry is poised for innovation.Adapting to these changes is not just a strategy, but rather a necessity to thrive in the market that is bound to set new benchmarks in 2024. In the New Year, we will be staying agile, leveraging technology and providing unparalleled service to meet the evolving needs of our clients .
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