PropTiger.com to offer home buyers a peek into the future of cities

In a first of its kind move to give home buyers a comprehensive perspective on future developments in a locality, PropTiger.com, India’s leading online real estate advisory service, has introduced a new feature, ‘City Master Plan’.

The City Master Plan leverages technology to merge Government approved master plans of cities, with geographical maps and project plans listed on PropTiger.com. The master plans, gathered from civic authorities, allow home buyers access to information such as land usage (proposed and current), major roads, linkages, highway development plans, railways, metros, rivers, drains and canals.

For example, it gives users an idea of how far a flyover or a highway is going to be built from residential projects that are of interest to them, among other critical details they might require to be able to finalize the best homes for themselves. This is the first ever attempt by an Indian real estate portal to provide home buyers credible information on proposed infrastructure of cities in India.

The feature is presently available for 3 cities - Noida, Bangalore and Pune - on the interactive maps on proptiger.com. However, this service will soon be extended to other Indian cities where PropTiger.com lists projects.

Dhruv Agarwala, CEO, PropTiger.com said, “There is vast information asymmetry in the home buying process as professional investors and builders have access to information on upcoming infrastructure projects and development plans in a locality, while the average home buyer does not. So far, no Indian real estate portal has attempted to bridge this information gap. ‘City Master Plan’ attempts to bridge this gap by giving buyers a rounded futuristic view of the development of the locality thereby also giving a sense of likely future value.”

Although, Indian home buyers presently have access to location of projects, direction to places in and around the city, interactive maps and satellite and aerial imagery on Google maps, an average home buyer is still not sure of the investment potential of a location or what the future holds for the neighborhood in terms of surrounding infrastructure.

Without knowing much about the prospective infrastructural growth of a city, it is difficult to take an informed decision while buying a home. PropTiger’com’s Master Plan feature cuts through the clutter of misinformation in the real estate market and allows home buyers to view the current map along with a representation of proposed infrastructure in a city duly approved by its civic authorities.

Recently, PropTiger.com announced that it had joined forces with Makaan.com, making it India’s only comprehensive ‘classifieds to transactions’ one-stop digital real estate platform. In November 2014, News Corp took a 25% stake in Elara Technologies Pte Ltd, which owns PropTiger.com. Other key investors in Elara include SAIF Partners and Accel Partners.