Some may wonder what has this topic got to do with the theme of this blog. The answer is - a whole lot…….
Modern Indians today who aspire for a good lifestyle, income and more, predominantly try to establish their career outside India.
We estimate that a good chunk of them would come back to India. When they come, they indulge in real-estate as they have the monetary power. And their buying power not only determines the real estate rates but also is encouraging big brands to enter the Indian home market. Take for instance “Kohler”. A seemingly unheard brand name in Indian bathroom fixtures. Today we see their ads in all the major magazines like India Today, The Week, Outlook and more…..
People who have been overseas know the premium brands like “Kohler” and they seek the same luxury here.
Some Indians even plan and purchase their homes while being abroad. They do some initial research, or are prompted by their parents to invest in real estate as it is the “right time”.
 The NRI crowd is not only determining the real estate rates, ( the consensus in cities like Bangalore and Chennai is that IT people in general are a reason for the price hikes) but thanks to their indulgence, the common man is getting to hear of unheard brands…..
 Likewise for items like Modular kitchen, shower cubicles, electric chimney and more which we are pretty certain would not have the kind of penetration without the “NRI-Factor”.
It seems like supply meeting demand here……
 Just a casual article. But worth debating. What say readers??
Comment on….
Jai Hind
Authors
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Seems to be my story…Yeah parents influencing are a big factor. I am looking for some property in India mainly because of that reason. Other I was happy being in the US and hoping for the real estate prices to fall. But everyone says its the right time….
Dont know if I am being foolish in following the crowd. Only time will tell.
Yes. I agree that we IT folks are the ones that are jacking up rates in every field. I dont know how a person from some other field, say with Rs25000 salary can even think of buying an apartment in Chennai or Bangalore ??
The proportion of the NRI’s buying the property will not be very high compared with the growth in the real estate market in India. The businessmen, professionals, politicians, film industry people and many people who have black money are investing in real estates.
The prices got raised with lot of hype, without strong fundamentals, so the same kind of growth can’t be expected in the medium and long term. The other reason is due to the demand. A lot of expatriates are now in India, thanks to the BPO/ITES Business growth..
The market should be able to cater to the needs of all the people in the premium and middle class sector.
Cheers,
Ramesh Natarajan, Dubai
Global Indian
Don’t know whether NRIs as one segment can determine the real estate rates in India. However, Vivek’s point about the increased visibility in India of the best quality home products resulting from growing NRI influence, is probably a valid take.
On a slight tangent here; I feel the reason for the real estate value growth over the past 4-5 years are the loan rates; they crashed to a low of 8% before climbing back to the 13% we now see. A whole generation of people who couldn’t afford homes earlier took loans and purchased homes. Earlier, people used to buy a home 10 years after marriage etc. Nowadays, it is all done with the loan mela right after your first job. So an age group of 25-40 all bought homes in a few short years creating a demand-supply crunch. Of course, it helped that India was seeing unprecedented job creation in services industry as well.
You guys might be on to something here.
Just wanted to share a few other blogs that are on similar lines as yours. My wife and I looked these up following a times article. Check it out
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/
http://www.1stdibs.com/
http://stylecourt.blogspot.com/
Cheers