Mumbai considered as the second most preferred investment destination for real estate in 2010 – Says Makaan.com survey

Localities under the Mumbai- Andheri- Dahisar region most in demand

Mumbai 29^th March 10: In order to gauge the real estate trends that will be prevalent this year, Makaan.com the fastest growing online real estate website by People Group conducted a nationwide survey, christened “Realty Trends 2010” for Metros and tier II cities of India.

As per the survey findings Mumbai, after Delhi, is considered as the second most preferred real estate investment destination in 2010, nationally. 28% of the national property seekers want to own a house in the city.

• Delhi tops the charts with 34% buyers wanting to buy a house in the capital.
• Bangalore and Hyderabad come next in line with 11% interested buyers, nationally.

The survey also reveals that the realty sector in 2010 is going to be driven by end user. Due to recession and fluctuating property prices, property seekers were shying away from making a property purchase last year, but with improving economy and slightly stable property prices; seekers are ready to jump into the market this year. It’s interesting to know that most of the buyers, who are interested to buy a house, this year, want it for self-consumption; this confirms the fact that speculators, which drove the real estate boom in 2004-07, are more or less out of the market. And even the ones who are willing to invest at this time are the long-term investors.

• 67% of the national property seekers want to buy a house for self-consumption.
• Only 23% national seekers are looking for property options from a long-term investment perspective.
• Short-term investors have only 10% takers.

When it comes to Mumbai, the trend is in line with the national findings, 72% of the property seekers from the city want to buy a house for self-consumption. On the other hand 20% buyers from Mumbai, who want to buy a house this year, are only looking it from long-term perspective. Only 8% survey takers from Mumbai want to invest for short term.

Through this study, Makaan.com also aimed at gauging the most preferred areas, amongst homebuyers, for making a real estate purchase in Mumbai this year.

• With 30%, majority of Mumbaikars want to own a house in Mumbai – Andheri – Dahisar region.
• Mumbai Navi follows this with 20% seekers looking for options in the area.
• Next in line is Mumbai central with 12% buyers wanting to buy a house in the area.

Commenting on the survey findings, Aditya Verma , Business Head and Vice President Makaan.com says, ““With economies stabilizing around the globe, the domestic market has also started showing signs of recovery and the buzz around property has started again. However, this time the buyer is more discerning and scrutinizing, while investing their money in projects. Our recent survey ‘Realty trends 2010’ is an effort to find out the psyche of the current property seekers and help them in making and informed property buying decision”.

The study was conducted on the portal between15th February 2010 – 5^th March 2010. Majority of respondents who participated in the survey belong to the age group of 26- 35 years. Conducted online, the survey saw participation from over 4800 property seekers.

About Makaan.com

Makaan.com is an online real-estate service promoted by People Interactive; the consumer Internet division of the Anupam Mittal led People Group. This site was conceived to explore and invent opportunities in the online real-estate space, and has within months of its launch managed to attract more than 11.3 lakhs unique visitors every month. Makaan.com is committed to helping users make wise and profitable decisions related to buying, selling, renting and leasing of properties, in India and key global geographies. The site aims to be user friendly, and has recently launched ‘Makaan Mobile’- India’s 1st and only SMS based mobile application for property sellers, in addition to introducing services such as ClickPay – an offering that enables a property seller to list multiple properties in one ad. Makaan.com has Pan India presence, with physical offices in top 5 cities of India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.