Housing acquires startup that ensures people don’t get cheated by property developers

The Indian real estate industry is witnessing phenomenal growth. However, the sector continues to be notorious for rampant corruption, malpractice, and delays. There are several disturbing instances where developers have permission to construct a building up to the seventh floor yet are selling eighth and ninth floor homes to buyers.

To stop people from being cheated, Housing today announced that it acquired Realty Business Intelligence (Realty BI) which provides critical data on these new projects. The deal is worth US$1.5 million in cash.

Realty BI’s solutions include due diligence, back-end research, project monitoring, and business intelligence. It has been working with banks, housing financing companies (HFCs), and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to provide a unified collateral risk assessment platform ensuring reduction in overall costs and back-end work related to due diligence.

Greater transparency

With this acquisition, Housing will provide this market intelligence data to its users who are buying a home in a new project. It will further augment due diligence efforts to ensure verified listings, risk free transactions, and secure investments.

“We want to bring transparency in the industry as it is fraught with risks when it comes to retail investments in new projects,” said Rahul Yadav, Housing’s CEO, in a statement this afternoon.

The acquisition will help Realty BI to scale the service across key cities and expand its customer base to retail investors to assess risks associated with investments.

Earlier this year, Housing acquired Indian Real Estate Forum (IREF), a community platform, in a similar push for transparency.

Housing was founded about three years ago out of the founders’ own struggle to find a flat in Mumbai. It independently verifies every property listed on the site. The startup has also expanded from its original rent and resale proposition to include paying guests and hostels, serviced apartments, land, plot projects, and new projects. It’s up against rival real estate portals such as Google Capital-backed CommonFloor and News Corp-backed PropTiger.

In the new project segment, Housing provides 3D isometric views and aerial views of sites, as well as metrics for things like child and old age-friendliness, and a quality of life rating. Providing data intelligence on the developer’s credibility is a major addition to its arsenal.