NRIs have been and continue to be a driving force in keeping up demand for property in India. A large part of the demand for high end and luxury apartments and homes is fuelled by the NRI community.
NRIs Typically Look For A Relatively Safe Investment Bet With Fair Chances Of Appreciation.
This is because they are not resident in India and hence there is a constant worry about the safety of their investment. However, they don’t mind investing into developing areas of a city / town because they are not totally clued in to the current state of development as much as a resident Indian. And hence they rely on friends, relatives, news sources and marketing collaterals of builders to make their buying decisions. Safety being a prime concern, the middle and high income groups tend to go for apartments, villa projects and gated communities that provide relatively higher safety by virtue of being in a group, as against a single individual managing his property matters.
The Underlying Purpose Of Such An Investment.
An NRI investment would depend not only on the income category, but quite heavily on the underlying reason for the investment. Someone looking at it purely from an investment angle would give a lot of weightage to capital appreciation and may go for pre-launch offers, versus someone who is looking at it from the point of regular returns (rental income) or as a place of future residence.
Post-Sales Support And Services.
NRIs are also accustomed to transparent and consumer friendly practices in their country of residence. Given that the real estate industry and the market practices are not as transparent and most importantly do not provide enough consumer protection, NRIs prefer to invest with known and reputed names in the market as against unknown or upcoming builders.