Key facets of India's first e-commerce portal for Real Estate

For the first time in India, a portal has been launched for the purchasing and selling of real estate properties. The portal, HousingForAll.com has been launched by the National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco), an association of real estate builders formed under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. India did have a number of real estate portals previously, but they facilitated only the marketing for the projects, not the actual purchase. As this is India’s first such portal, there are a number of things property buyers should know about.

Firstly, this portal will list only residential properties which are registered with RERA and have received the occupancy certificate. This means that only ready-to-move homes will be available for purchase on HousingForAll.com. The website became available to homebuyers from 14th February onwards. Until 13th February, the website was accessible to only developers for the purpose of registering their projects. For the first 15 day since the launch of the portal, customers got the opportunity to check offers and shortlist their options. Actual home purchases can be made on the platform for the entire month of March.

On this portal, investors can book a unit for an amount as low as INR 25000, which again, is refundable. In case they decide not to purchase the home, the money will be returned. The portal comes with real photos and videos of the properties, so that the buyers know what they are paying for. Once the buyers have shortlisted their options, they can make their final choice by visiting the actual sites.

For the first 45 days, the portal will feature a home buying festival where one can get homes at discounted prices. According to Naredco, around 1000 residential projects will be available to buyers during this festival.  In general as well, HousingForAll.com offers homes at the lowest possible prices. Naredco revealed that in the long run, the whole inventory of ready-to-move residential units in India will be available for online purchase.

This is evidently an innovative step and would greatly help the real estate sector as well as homebuyers. Buyers can now easily go through a large number of options and make purchases through a reliable medium. This portal is expected to cast positive impacts on Indian real estate.