Abhinandan Lodha Is Selling Real Estate Exclusively Online

House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL) started operations in 2021, becoming India's first digital-only business in real estate. “Within our families, there will always be stories about how ‘if I held on to the land which I had in Gurgaon or Kochi or Jodhpur for 20, 30, 40 years, the kind of return it would create is phenomenal’,” says Abhinandan as he tells us about the birth of his business.

However, owning retail land in India largely has four issues: encroachment, holding onto the title, getting approvals for development and liquidity. HoABL was built on the premise of taking care of these four issues and providing for an Indian’s innate desire to own land and create wealth through owning land. 

HoABL decided to become the much-needed land connoisseur. Over a three-year period, they identified 48 locations across the country where they felt confident of the central and local infrastructure, education, economic upswing and job creation ability of the place.

Their first was a development in Konkan in April 2021. Though it was at the peak of Covid-19, the 100-acre development sold out in less than three weeks. More developments were added in the Konkan, Neral, Goa, Alibaug and Ayodhya. 

Last year, HoABL boasted a repurchase ratio of almost 27%, with 27% of people either buying again or referring someone from their family to buy. Major factors are the ease of transaction and the promise of liquidity. “We essentially give you demated land in your account.”

“The unique part of our business is that it is online-only.” Abhinandan tells us that none of the 5,000-odd consumers who have bought so far have ever met with the HoABL team in person. None of them have gone to see a site or even spoken to a broker for resale. All of the work gets done across the screen.

Typically, it is believed that developers try to keep customers away from one another. But HoABL customers, once they consent, can see the agreement of every other person who is part of the development. Grade-A law firms like BSK and AZB also externally validate the land for a clean title. Then, an individual 7/12 extract is created for each plot owner. Plots are also pre-approved for a design to prevent future liaising with local people for approvals. Finally, there is the promise of liquidity, where HoABL will buy back land at the current market rate in case of an emergency. And since HoABL is built on the back of technology, the transaction costs end up being only about 5-6%. 

HoABL acquired land in Ayodhya in 2020 - 2021, convinced of the vision for Ayodhya to become a global spiritual center. “We saw the development and work which was happening on the ground; it was massive. And we also understood that this kind of city was going to require world-class development.” They acquired land from over 1,400 local farmers and spent almost three-and-a-half years getting that land in order. The buzz around Ayodhya moved from local to global. “There's also a fundamental economic story being built on the back of spiritual and cultural tourism.” Abhinandan tells us that Ayodhya is an effectively seven-star development. It has India's first vegetarian seven-star hotel, luxury towers, villas and one of the largest clubhouses in Uttar Pradesh. HoABL’s global launch of Ayodhya in New York, Singapore, Dubai and Delhi saw a massive response from the NRI segment.

According to Abhinandan, almost all of their developments have been carbon neutral. The greens are kept the way they are and more trees are added to the plantations. “For example, in Goa, we are planting close to 9,000 trees. We also ensure that all developments are built in a manner where we are able to make them self-sufficient.”

As for economics, In Ayodhya, HoABL estimates that they will create close to 8,400 jobs over four years. They have done similar numbers in the Konkan and Goa developments with all jobs getting created locally. 

As Indians, our desire to own land comes from the fact that we have largely been an agrarian economy for generations. HoABL understands that owning land is the purest form of real estate appreciation. And doing that in a seamless manner is where they come into the picture. The width of their expansion makes them one of the only pan-India players in the segment.