Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Residential (JLLR) will hire about 650 professional brokers and invest about Rs 150 crore this year to expand its presence in both offline and online housing brokerage market.
Last month, global property consultant JLL sold its India residential brokerage arm 'JLLR' to its former country head Anuj Puri for an undisclosed amount.
"We currently have presence in eight major cities of the country with around 350 brokers. We will hire 650 more professional brokers this year to take our strength to 1,000," JLLR's new chairman Anuj Puri told PTI.
He said the company has already added 100 brokers in the last one month.
Puri, who quit JLL India in February this year after serving 10 years in the company to start his own venture, said the company will invest about Rs 150 crore to expand offline and online brokerage business.
JLLR is a profitable company with a revenue of about Rs 70 crore in 2016 calendar year.
Puri said the company is targeting a modest growth in revenue in 2017 at Rs 100 crore as focus this year would be on putting the entire business structure in place.
"In the next five years, we are targeting to reach Rs 1,800 crore revenue," he said, adding that the total size of Indian housing brokerage market is about Rs 18,000 crore.
"Our platform will ensure client satisfaction and solution through a digital to delivery framework which is being put in place through investment on building online system for lead generation and offline brokers for fulfilment of client requirement," Puri said.
Excited about the business opportunities in housing sector, Puri said the institutional residential brokerage will gain momentum after the new real estate law come into force from this month under which even property agents and agencies have to be registered with the regulatory authority.
"In fact, even property brokerage houses will come under the ambit of RERA, meaning that agents or agencies operating in smaller pockets who did not hesitate to foist inferior or flawed properties onto their clients will be wiped out.
"No longer will buyers who used the services of such brokers in the past risk winding up with properties whose defects become evident only after the deal is done," he said.
Puri said he will retain the JLLR brand for now but later rename it to reflect the new ownership structure.
Anuj Puri had joined JLL in 2007 when his company Trammell Crow Meghraj (TCM) merged with JLL India. He has total 22 years of experience in the Indian real estate sector.
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