Source: Bloomberg Quint (https://bit.ly/3B5xkML)

India’s diaspora offers hope to the nation’s beleaguered real estate market in a pandemic-marred year. Home sales struggled to overcome multiple setbacks of demonetisation, a stricter housing law and a credit crunch in the last three years, stalling projects and leaving developers with a bloated inventory. The pandemic that has triggered jobs losses and salary cuts has only made it worse. Housing sales in India’s top eight cities, according to Knight Frank India, fell to its lowest in a decade in the first half of 2020. While not many Indians are buying, developers have seen a spike in enquiries and demand from non-resident Indians in the ongoing financial year. Developers say a weaker rupee, return of several Indians from Middle East and lower interest rates for housing loans are some of the triggers.

As many as 40,000 NRIs could be looking to purchase assets in India, according to Amit Goenka, managing director and chief executive officer of Nisus Finance Services Co. Pvt. Ltd., which specializes in real estate services. If this demand gets converted into sales once travel curbs ease, this could be a “historical high”, he said.

“NRIs from Africa, Europe, and Asia, including the Middle East, are the most active in enquiries since there’s high level of economic uncertainty,” he told BloombergQuint. “Asset prices have fallen in these regions and investment opportunities to earn returns have turned negative.”