Dubai: Cities in South India have picked up four of the top six spots of preferred property markets for expat investments. But it was Mumbai at the top of the rankings and ahead of Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi, while Pune was fifth.
This is based on a survey of 15,000 respondents done by the organisers of the Indian Property Show.
“Further decline in Indian rupee combined with a spate of regulatory reforms seems to be encouraging NRIs to invest in their favourite asset class,” said Kowshik Mukherjee, Head of Indian Property Show and Chief Operating Officer Sumansa Exhibitions. The next edition of the series opens June 21 in Dubai.
“We see the interest bouncing back as expat Indians are not only keen on purchasing a home in their homeland but have also shown an increased interest in purchasing purely for investment purposes.”
Property for own use
Investors interest in buying property as an investment has risen by about 17 per cent, compared with the survey done last year. There was a perceptive drop of 9 per cent plus in the number of people looking to buy property for own use, from 65.03 per cent last year to 59.13 per cent. Additionally, more NRIs are planning to buy as an investment, up by 15 per cent.
Twenty-eight per cent of respondents showed interest in investing in properties within the range of Rs7.6 million to Rs20 million, while 46 per cent would opt for properties between Rs2.5 million and Rs7.5 million.
It could be because of the weakened rupee, but fewer people are seeking finance to purchase property — 57.66 per cent now compared to 66.34 per cent last year.
Developers, on their part, need to start working on their marketing initiatives now. Just over half of the respondents were interested in purchasing property within the next six months.
