Lucrative properties worldwide are having new groups of buyers

Lots of recent studies suggest that what is happening at the moment is just the reverse. Reverse to what? In the earlier decades only the Europeans and Americans were regarded as the best purchasers of wealthy properties in the global arena. But now the situation has changed completely and wealthy Indians are surpassing them in buying well-off and rich properties.

What is the basic reason behind this sea change? As per experts, US sub prime crisis and the global economic downturn is making Indians stare at good bargains in international markets. In accordance with international property brokers in India, the number of transactions has gone up by 15-20% in comparison to the same period last year.

Commenting on this, Samir Chopra, CMD, Re/Max India, an international property broker with presence in over 73 countries across the world, says, “There has been more interest over the last six months. Firstly, prices especially in the US are quite low as compared to earlier. Also, a lot of HNIs (high networth individuals) who send their children for education are also looking at buying property outside. Moreover, RBI has relaxed foreign expenditure to $200,000 (Rs 1 cr) per year…so many HNIs prefer to buy during March-April as it increases their buying power from $200,000 to $400,000.”

However there is another aspect. Apart from Indian HNIs but even NRIs are finding foreign properties more profitable. According to global real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), compared to last year, the drop in NRI interest in India-based properties has been almost 50% in all sectors.

“India is not the only country that NRIs are now eyeing for realty investment. After the sub-prime crisis fallout in the US, NRI investors have woken up to the potential there,” says Sanjay Dutt, CEO-Business, JLLM.

Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), considers that both Mauritius and Thailand are also picking up as destinations for investments, in addition to London which has been the old time favorite. Magazine, however, feels that although there will be an increase in these investments in the near future, it might still not be very significant.

“The interest has gone up from previous times but is still not at a very high level. People mainly look at buying there either due to business interests, a desire to diversify investment portfolio or to own a second home in such locations,” he says.