Tech Genie Peeps Out of the Real Estate Industry in 2016

Technology has a positive impact for both the builder, developers and customers. Thanks to the advances in technology and innovation, the real estate sector is poised to identify and tap the market opportunities emerging out of these demands to deliver substantial economic, environmental and quality of life benefits to its customers.

In the year 2016, augmented reality in real estate sector is going to kick off.  Augmented reality allows customers to picture, relate with, and understand 3D prototypes of their homes in real time—even before they are built.

On that note, Vinay K. Mehta, Executive Director, Unishire, says, “We have now started exploring the use of augmented reality to give a live 3D picture of the unit designed. This helps the design team understand how the layout would look in actual and what changes could be made in terms of sizing of specific areas and overall layout of the units,” he says. This would be their continued focus this year.

At the same time, Mehta added, they are using cloud technology to store data and applications, employees can work from sites without carrying their files with them and the easy access to all files has made the entire construction and selling process better. It will evolve this year.

On the same lines, , Adarsh Narahari, MD, Mantri Primus Lifespaces said, at a leadership level all the data of leadership teams have been put on cloud and through a secure login they could access it from anywhere. The advantage is that the approvals can be made on mobile reducing the number of meetings. This year, they plan to implement it for the employees at the lower rung.

In a joyful mood, Anil Baradia, CIO, Total Environment, said, “Cloud is going to be big in the real estate market. This year, many real estate players will move their infrastructure on to the cloud. There will be a high amount of usage of (SaaS) based applications and services in the Indian real estate market.”

Another emerging trend is Building Information Modelling. “We are exploring on using Building Information Modelling software in 2016 to develop better models for construction and get the entire depth of detailing for each element that is involved in the construction,” said Mehta, adding that as an organization they could avoid cost run off which is experienced due to shallow level of detailing before the start of the project construction.

On the other hand, MIDC, the real estate subsidiary of Stumpp, Schuele & Somappa Springs is using BIM solution. Adding to Vinay, S. Karumbatti, CIO, SSSS said that with BIM they build the design virtually, telling them if they are going to face any hurdles.

At the same time, real estate agents seem to be using drones to give a bird’s eye view of the property. That’s incredibly interesting–photography of the geography!!

According to Mehta, from customer’s point of view, they have drones capturing live surrounding area and giving a picture of exact view of apartment & balcony. These help a great deal in deciding whether the house fits into one’s lifestyle.

Voila! That’s something.

Road Blocks

Real Estate players are well equipped with technology and have ambitious plans for the future but to kick start the project takes time.   

There is overwhelming opinion among the real estate players that approval of projects take a lot of time. “The key challenge is that the government policy and regulations around real estate, need to be clear, free of any ambiguity and with accountability from the government authorities,” says Narahari.

The key challenge is that the government policy and regulations around real estate, need to be clear, and free of any ambiguity.

He also added that it takes an average of 24 months — colossal waste of time–to get a sanction for a project in Bangalore. The government should be open to online process.

Besides, “red tapism is also a burning problem in the real estate industry,” says Sathish Pendse, CIO, Hindustan Construction Company.  It is high time the government announces reforms that will cut down the bureaucratic red tape involved in project growth to give a boost to the real estate industry.

Let’s hope, in 2016, the government wakes up from its slumber and gives approval of projects without any delay.