NRIs Home In as Falling Rupee Makes Realty Cheap

Struggling builders net a windfall, plan to tap more 'Indians' abroad

The spiraling rupee is resulting in a windfall for builders around the country who were struggling for more than a year to sell new homes. In a three-day property show in Dubai last weekend, Indian builders were able to generate bookings for homes valued at over $50 million (around . 250 crore), which has prompted them to hop to other cities with large Indian population like London, New York and Singapore. Ever since the rupee started depreciating there has been increased activity by the non resident Indian (NRI) buyers as they pay in dollars. 
The benefits of the rupee depreciation, if added to the discounts being offered by developers, makes new homes in India cheaper by almost 30% in dollar terms. At the Dubai show, 70 companies including Unitech, Hiranandani Group, Vatika, Nirmal Lifestyle, Ansal Housing and Ireo showcased their 200 projects from Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Ahmedabad. 
"International real estate investment destinations, especially Europe and the Middle East are increasingly becoming uncertain. This, along with sharp depreciation in rupee, is attracting more NRIs towards Indian property markets," said Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Hiranandani group. 
Since August, the Indian currency has weakened nearly 20% against the US dollar. This, in addition to developer and project specific discounts has provided benefit of 25-30% to NRIs who are considering this as a good bargain. "Dirham, the currency of United Arab Emirates, being fixed to the US dollar is also helping Indian property market receive more attention from investors and buyers from the region," Hiranandani added. He expects the NRIs contribution in company's revenue to jump over 8% in the ongoing financial year, as against 3-4% earlier. "In three days most of the buyers have shown interest in paying the entire amount upfront to get the benefit of current currency rate. Of these, 53% people have booked these properties for own use while rest have bought with investment objective," said Sunil Jaiswal, chief executive of Sumansa Exhibitions, which organised the Dubai show. 
The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), the representative body of developers from Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, is planning to organize a property exhibition in Dubai between January 12-14. And developers, who are witnessing fall in sales volume from local homebuyers, are hopeful of a strong rebound from there. 
The MCHI exhibition in Dubai will showcase around 300 properties developed by around 35 developers. "Prospects of sales to NRIs are bright this year, and therefore we are going to Dubai, London, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong," said Zubin Mehta, CEO at MCHI. He expects the Dubai show to generate 15-20% higher bookings than last year's exhibition that saw bookings around . 70 crore and 
    housing finance companies business at . 107 crore. 
While Sumansa Exhibitions is also looking at organising more property exhibitions in international cities with Indian population many developers are also looking to enter into a tie up or set up their sales and marketing offices abroad. 
The Upside 

• Rupee depreciation has made new homes in India cheaper by almost 30% in dollar terms 

• Builders sold homes worth $50 billion in a property show organised in Dubai recently 

• Increased interest by NRIs has prompted builders to organise such exhibitions in other cities with large Indian population