National: Housing.com, India’s leading real-estate portal owned by Elara Technologies, has announced the launch of ‘Housing Edge’, its unique full stack rental and allied services platform, through which the company enables digitisation of multiple services which tenants and landlords can use, without leaving the comfort of their homes. These services for both, owners and tenants, include packages like online rent payment, online rental agreements, tenant verification, packing & moving, furniture rental, home interiors and home services.
While most Housing Edge services are available in Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune, plans are underway to offer these services in several other cities. The company has also partnered with industry-leading brands to ensure a quality user experience. Over time, more innovative services will be added on to the online platform.
“The Housing Edge platform brings exceptional technology-driven innovations that our brand is well-known for providing. We have already changed the way property transactions take place in India, by way of acting as a one-stop solution for a buyer. With an aim towards replicating the same model in the allied services area, the company is offering innovative technology solutions that will make the journey of a consumer looking for such services, seamless and easy to use,” said Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO, Housing.com, Makaan.com & PropTiger.com.
Agarwala further added: “Rental housing has already emerged as a big opportunity in a developing economy like India, where the pace of urbanisation is accelerating. Even though property ownership will continue to be the preferred choices for people in India, rental housing will allow them to have the option of securing a short-term home of their choice, with convenience and affordability as they move to new cities. Through Housing Edge, we have attempted to make the end-to-end process of renting and moving into a home simple and hassle free.”
Mani Rangarajan, Group COO, Housing.com, Makaan.com & PropTiger.com said “Our vision is to provide innovative products and services that would have a strong market impact and help develop the overall eco-system. In pursuit of that objective, we have launched simplified packages to provide professional assistance to both homeowners and home seekers. Also, to make the overall journey hassle-free, we have partnered with some of the top brands in the country that have already built a strong market reputation. These strategic partnerships will truly help Housing Edge become a one-stop-shop for tenants and landlords in India.”
The numbers game
After the company decided to start the online rent agreement feature on Housing Edge in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that imposed tough restrictions on movement, services have been rendered in over 80+ cities across 14 states, which is an unprecedented reach for any online rent agreement service, made possible only because it is fully digital. Nearly 2,000 users have already made use of the online rent agreement facility. Since the response from users has exceeded expectations, the company plans to launch these services in more states.
The Pay Rent feature on Housing Edge, which we launched simultaneously for all platforms including Android, IOS and web, has received a tremendous response wherein, the company has facilitated more than 2,00,000 transactions in the past seven months and has processed pay rent requests exceeding Rs 600 crores.
According to the firm, its exclusive packages meant for landlords and property seekers, have been well-received in both Tier-I and Tier-II cities. Under the company’s offerings for tenants, over 1,000 users have already availed of the services in the test phase that was launched in Bengaluru, wherein consumers have enjoyed the pocket friendly packages that give access to exclusive properties listed directly by owners and helps customers to manage the transaction themselves and help save on brokerage.
Housing.com has been able to clock significant month-on-month revenue growth on its exclusive owner services, under which the company assists property owners to not only market their properties to a large number of clients but also offers them bespoke listing management plans. In this difficult real estate market, Housing.com is helping landlords to effectively market their properties among tenants through the use of 3D digital tours and assistance through a concierge service, which is again a unique value-added service in the industry.
Assuring quality through collaboration
In an attempt to further widen the scope of its services, Housing.com has tied up with brands such as Urban Company, RentoMojo, Livspace, HappyLocate and AuthBridge to provide renters assisted services on Housing Edge at attractive rates.
Housing.com’s tie up with RentoMojo, India’s largest rental company in furniture and appliances, offers tenants a wide range of products, including furniture and home appliances, to rent.
Its partnership with India’s top home services brand, Urban Company, on the other hand, helps customers have easy access to all their home maintenance needs, including deep cleaning, plumbing and painting among many others. Home-owners can avail of these services in order to get their homes ready for renting.
The company’s partnership with Livspace – India’s and Southeast Asia’s largest home interiors and renovation platform, will help customers get access to trusted, professionally designed interiors for all rooms, including modular kitchens, wardrobes, furniture and false ceilings.
Housing.com’s tie-up with AuthBridge, which has vast experience in providing identity management and verification products, will help home/PG owners to easily verify the identity and do background checks (including criminal records) of their potential tenants and avail of the Tenant Police Registration Services.
Similarly, the tie-up with HappyLocate, a one-stop relocation platform that has partnered with 25+ best packers and movers in India that service over 16,000 PIN codes across the country, will allow consumers to get quality moving services, to ensure a smooth home relocation experience.
