Stability in housing prices and favourable rupee movements are bringing back the NRIs in a big way to the real estate market, mortgage giant HDFC has said. To tap their interest, HDFC as also a number of property developers are undertaking special marketing campaigns including by way of organising property fairs in places with high NRI population such as the US and the UK.
Interestingly, the non-resident Indians living abroad are showing a renewed interest in the Indian housing market at a time when the local demand is relatively sluggish.
“We are seeing a lot of interest from the NRI community. The rupee depreciation against the US dollar is also helping, for the prospective home buyers from the American continent,” HDFC ltd Managing Director Renu Sud Karnad told the news agency.
HDFC, the country’s largest mortgage lender, has planned ‘India Homes Fair’ exhibition in london on May 30-31, which will have more than 100 projects on display from across India. Karnad said that housing prices have stabilised, while softening of interest rates have helped make the home purchase much more affordable.
Property consultancy major CBRE’s South Asia Head (Residential Services) A S Sivaramakrishnan said that NRIs have become extremely important for the Indian real estate market and they contribute 8-10 per cent of the total housing sales volume across India. Stating that the contribution of NRIs in housing sales varies from city to city, he said the NRIs account for 30-35 per cent of apartments sales in Kerala.