The National Association of Realtors, India (NAR-India) on Saturday, July 23, signed a bilateral agreement with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) to make property purchases more transparent for buyers across the country.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed as part of the third annual convention of NAR-India in Hyderabad. The two-day event is being organised at HICC by the Andhra Pradesh Realtors Association (APRA), the local chapter of the national body of realtors.
Speaking on Day 1 of the event, P S N Rao, Founder Chairman of NAR-India termed the collaboration as historic as he stressed on the need for builders and brokers to work in cooperation to ensure better growth of the real estate sector. “Brokers and builders are two key stakeholders of this industry. It is thus imperative that a synergy is cultivated between the two. This MoU will ensure just that,” Rao said adding how this move would also help improve the credibility of real estate agents.
“Until a few years ago, customers scoffed at the mention of a property broker. Things are gradually changing now with more educated and sophisticated people turning realtors. We at NAR-India too are making all efforts to change this perception and our association with CREDAI is just another step towards that goal,” Rao said.
NAR-India at present has close to 13,000 members spread across 20 states. In Andhra Pradesh, about 69 brokering firms are part of this body, which aims to grow on the lines of the 100-year-old national association of realtors, based in the US.
Lauding the efforts of NAR-India to improve the quality of brokerage, Lalit Kumar Jain, President of CREDAI said that the MoU would also help the developers association take its recently launched `Mission Transparency’ initiative forward. With realtors under NAR-India bound by a code of conduct, much like CREDAI, Jain said that customers could now be sure of fair dealings while buying properties. “The body is doing a fine job of training brokers across the country to improve its services offered to customers. We hope to continue doing that through this MoU,” he said.
To questions on the growth of the real estate industry in India, Jain said that there were still a few hurdles that need to be addressed at the earliest. “We at CREDAI have proposed a single-window system for acquiring clearance for all project plans. It is a very important proposal, which if implemented will ensure that a customer gets all clearances within three weeks. Similarly there are other concerns that we are trying to resolve gradually,” he said.
While Jain preferred to keep mum on the Telangana crisis and its impact on Hyderabad’s realty, he said that a rise in property prices over the next few years was inevitable.
