Digital routes and lucrative schemes spur sales in real estate during lockdown

New Delhi: In the figures released by various developers and real estate brokerage firms, it is being claimed that the lockdown has led to good sales figures all over the country. The realtors attribute slew of factors including the strong digital presence to have helped the sector achieve the unthinkable. Developers or realtors of repute have been able to garner good sales as they smartly employed digital tools to reach out to the potential buyers.  Various measures such as online bookings, online payments, eased out down payment schemes,  and lowest ever home loan interest rates in the last decade, etc, helped the sector to sail through the difficult time. The end result was unexpected.

Developers say that they got a lot of online/telephonic inquiries during the lockdown and it became necessary to come out with initiatives that should not fizzle out the interest of the buyer in properties. So realtors came out with offers and schemes from 6 months EMI free to the donation of booking amount to PM Relief Fund.  Gaurs group in Delhi NCR has announced that it has sold 700 units to achieve gross sales value of Rs 225 crores, Lodha Group sold around 1000 units during the lockdown, Ghaziabad-based Migsun Group sold 500 units with a gross value of Rs 252 crore, and Godrej Properties sold 500 units in the second half of March ending post lockdown.

“Real estate sector came out with innovative online schemes through which a home seeker can easily book his home or even a commercial unit without the hassle of a site visit. Realizing this very early, we activated our digital teams and CRMs to exploit modern technology. We conducted virtual tours of our projects that helped the buyers take a look at their future real estate assets and how it is going to pan out. Our measures included sales via video conferencing to online project tours to easier online payment gateways,” says Manoj Gaur, MD, Gaurs Group.

Simultaneously, realtors have increased communication with new prospects digitally by using digital mediums like emails, WhatsApp, SMSes and social media mediums such as Facebook, Instagram. Most of the sales of Migsun Group have happened at its projects located in Greater Noida (UP) and in Ghaziabad (UP) in regions such as Vasundhara, Kausambhi, Indirapuram, Vaishali and Rajnagar Extension.  Yash Miglani, MD, Migsun, said, “We have always been quite active on all the digital platforms and have been continuously focusing on sales generated via online queries.  There was an upsurge amongst the buyers to own a home in a group housing project as people were able to see the positives of a Group Housing during the lockdown. In the last couple of weeks, we have made bookings from people who had the liquidity but were short of ideas to invest.”

The sector came up with hordes of innovative schemes to keep the buyers engaged. From sales via video conferencing to online project tours to easier online payment gateways, realtors used tired every available route. “Lockdown did pose a hurdle but our processes helped us to overcome it. We launched virtual tours and EMI moratorium schemes as the lockdown was extended. During lockdown 3.0 and 4.0, buyers who came wanted better living in group housing projects and were getting the benefits of flexible payment plans,” added Miglani.

“We came out with 'Lockdown offer' for our commercial as well as residential projects where we asked the buyer to pay Rs one lakh to book as against the full booking amount, the rest of the amount could be paid within the 100 days,” added Gaur. Apart from the schemes, a lot of other marketing firms came up with the option of online project tours helping people experience the entire project through online platforms.