Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Property Consultants
With the advancement of the Internet and e-commerce, the ‘human touch’ and ‘face-to-face’ interactions are on the decline.
Hand-written letters and postcards have gone the way of the dinosaurs, and even e-mails are rapidly becoming passé as the world shrinks into smartphones and messaging apps replace almost all other modes of communication.
The way we shop has definitely undergone a massive sea-change over the past few years. Less than five years ago, ordering food, groceries, clothes, furniture and a whole lot of other commodities and services with the click of a button would have seemed like far-fetched science fiction, but it is a reality today. And it’s not only in shopping where the human touch faces obsoletion, but almost all forms business.
The Internet was not the only factor involved in the ‘dehumanizing’ process. As an asset class, real estate had become increasingly commoditized and home purchase became more of an investment play done purely for financial gains.
Thankfully, the slowdown in the Indian property market put paid to the extremely damaging speculative activity that drove up prices and created a staggering burden of unoccupied homes held solely for capital appreciation.