Berkshire Hathway HomeServices, the real estate brokerage arm of global investor Warren Buffet has entered into the Indian market through its tie-up with Orenda India. Sanya Aeren, its Chief Advisor-Marketing & Communication, says the global best practices of Berkshire and the huge untapped opportunities in the Indian market would position this alliance into the top league. In an Exclusive Interview with Ravi Sinha, she spells out her plans to organize the property brokerage, penetrate deep into the market and also give a new experience to the investors. Excerpts of the interview:
Ravi Sinha: Property brokerage is a very cluttered space in India. How does Berkshire Hathway positions itself as a market differentiator?
Sanya Aeren: With Berkshire Hathway we want to disrupt the Indian market by providing the world class experience along with providing cutting edge technology, by following the core values of longevity, trust, integrity and transparency. We want to bring global mindset and global best practices to Indian real estate by bringing in 100 per cent transparency between the buyers and sellers. And that would ease up the whole process of real estate transactions.
Ravi Sinha: Berkshire Hathway HomeServices and Orenda India is a great brand association. But many such brand associations in the past have not worked in India. Even the Trump India entry has not been without its share of controversies. So, how do you plan to roll out the business?
Sanya Aeren: I don’t know about the other players but it is not the case with us. We do believe that we have the potential to disrupt the Indian real estate and as the world’s number one brand we have access to Berkshire Hathway’s global listing syndication, professional training and ongoing education.
There is something called the “Exclusive Luxury Collection” where our agents will also have access to Berkshire Hathway’s active referral and relocation networks and its cloud technology which is a powerful platform for lead generation and marketing support, social media video production, distribution and much more. We also have access to so many portals and publications of Berkshire Hathway Home Services which includes Global Mansion, Prestige Journal, Wall Street Journal, Chinese portals, and Netjets Magazine owned by Berkshire Hathway.
So, with the global network that is coming in, we are hoping to revolutionize the real estate market by using the tools and platforms that Berkshire Hathway HomeServices brings in.
Ravi Sinha: With the real estate being a localized business, how will the global network leverage from one country to another country?
Sanya Aeren: We have a platform in place whereby we have all the referrals listed and our agents have the access, whereby they can connect to anybody sitting in Mexico, US, Canada, or any other part of the world through the Berkshire Home Services franchise and they are just a click away. There is a system in place whereby they can connect with anybody who is a member of the franchise network of Berkshire Hathway HomeServices.
We are exposed to something called the Real Estate IQ system which combines Berkshire HomeServices’ marketing, global listing syndication, video production etc. and it has associations with some of the world’s best brands. So, our agents have access to all these brands.
Ravi Sinha: Which all geographical locations and segments you are looking at in India.
Sanya Aeren: We are looking at pan-India markets, including cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata. We also want to expand to Goa and Ayodhya in the next few months with a few thousand advisors.
Our focus is on residential, commercial, institutional, and wherever we see potential and demand we will cater to that. Real estate is something that will always be in demand. Of course, external circumstances like Covid will keep changing. In the post pandemic there has been a lot of shift in demand. In the commercial property the prices have been 7-10% down but we are witness to the fact that this has invited foreign investment by the NRIs who have access to capital.
In the residential segment the demand is up; flexible offices are more in demand compared to the traditional office spaces. Post pandemic people want to shift to larger spaces. People can move away from the big cities because the big corporations are infusing Work From Home culture. Warehousing as we see the e-commerce companies like Amazon are bullish and some companies are looking at creating their Fulfillment Inventory Centers. So, there is more demand for warehouses. The demand keeps changing and we will keep up to cater to wherever the demand is.
Ravi Sinha: Among the cities that you are looking at, Ayodhya is an interesting choice. Any specific reason or is it just euphoria with the Ram Mandir?
Sanya Aeren: Ayodhya has a huge potential as it is inviting tourism because of the recent developments. There is an airport coming up which is within 20 kms from the city. There is no key real estate player present over there. We can see a lot of development potential in the city. India is a developing country and there is a lot of potential in infrastructure and while the larger cities are talking about the digital infrastructure, in Ayodhya the traditional real estate infrastructure needs to be developed as well.
Ravi Sinha: While most of the large size brokerage firms are focused on the metro cities, you are getting into many other Tier II & III cities as well. Right? How will you deal with the trust deficit issues over there?
Sanya Aeren: Definitely! We will move to Lucknow, Varanasi and all these places where we see some potential, be it metropolitan or be it Tier II & III cities. Now there is a lot of development taking place in Tier II & III cities, in terms of transportation. It is no more the same as it was around a decade back. And hence, there is a lot of demand in the luxury segment because the millennials can trust their own cities to have such infrastructure support. So, these cities are moving more towards the metropolitan cities and in terms of infrastructure development & transport network. Of course, a developing country will always have its own challenges and we have to overcome that.
Ravi Sinha: Post pandemic, do you see any major shift in the buyers’ mindset?
Sanya Aeren: Of course, there has been a major shift in the buyers’ mindset when it comes to the residential segment. For example, people want to shift away from the cities. For example, there has been a 10% increase in transactions in Gurgaon towards the Southern Peripheral Road, NH8, and Golf Course Extension Road. People want larger spaces after Work From Home culture, and so without increasing the budget they want to shift away from the cities and the companies are also ok with that.
People are more health conscious now. Digital schooling of kids has led to demand for study rooms for the children. Working couples want their own separate spaces. Expat professionals have shifted back to their home towns and hence we can see an increase in demand in those places.
Ravi Sinha: What is the fiscal topline that you have in mind, especially in terms of the market share of Tier II & III cities?
Sanya Aeren: We have just entered into the market and our research team is working on that. But at this moment all that I can say is that we will command a sizeable share of the market. Of course, Tier II & III cities are challenging in terms of trust & transparency and we have to overcome the challenges. But Berkshire Hathway HomeServices has definitely realized the growth potential of India.
Ravi Sinha
@ravitrack2media
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