Participating in a webinar, Arvind Subramanian, MD and CEO designate of Mahindra Lifespaces, said the technology would play an important role in the real estate sector, not only in sales and marketing but in construction and design as well.
He described residential property as a 30-years consumer product and said it should not be treated as any other financial products.
The webinar was organised by BW Businessworld and WHub.
Dhruv Agarwala, the CEO of Housing Proptiger and Makaan.com, said there has been tremendous acceleration in digital adoption since the lockdown, which was imposed on march 25 to curb coronavirus spread.
He mentioned that the total traffic at its three platforms fell 40 per cent during the first week of the lockdown compared with the pre-COVID level.
However, Agarwala said, the traffic has now bounced back and is 20 per cent more than pre-COVID level.
Although traffic on its sites has come back, he said, buyers will be cautious due to salary cuts, lay-offs and economic downturn, but investors are looking to purchase because of attractive prices and payment plans.
Square Yards CEO Tanuj Shori said his company has been able to sell 3,000 properties during this period, thanks to fast adoption of digital tools like virtual walk through and payment gateways by developers as well as customers.
He said the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the speed of adoption of digital although there will be some element.
NoBroker co-founder Amit Agarwal said around 2,000 properties have been transacted on its websites during this period. The process of search, shortlisting and walk-throughs of properties have shifted to online.
He highlighted that even the rental deals are taking place without physical visits.
MyGate founder Vijay Kumar said the technology will play a big role in making real estate market more efficient.
SAI Estate Consultants MD Amit Bhagwan Wadhwani, however, said that human interference will be required to complete the real estate transactions, although digital tools are being helpful in lead generations.
Awfis founder and CEO Amit Ramani said the technology is enabling coworking operators in providing services more efficiently.
Agarwala of Housing.com said that the PropTech companies have not been able to attract huge investment in the last ten years but the scenario could change in the next decade.
"We are just seeing the emergence of PropTech in India," he added. MJH BAL