bangalore many nris are teaming up with likeminded buyers on real estate group buying sites to shop for flats in india the cheaper rupee and deep discounts offered by developers through these portals has triggered a substantial jump in propertyrelated enquiries from nris in the us uk and the middle east in the last three months londonbased nayan bhavishi has poured more money into the real estate market in the country than in any other geography or asset category an avid real estate investor bhavishi snapped up two readytomovein flats in vaastu project in thane for rs 120 crore through real estate portal groffrcom i was scouting for properties in india and stumbled upon this site offering good discounts i got 25 discount on my property purchases and the exchange rate at rs 84 to a pound was a big draw he said bhavishi said he bought the property at rs 4200 per sq ft when the rates in neighbouring properties were between rs 5800 and 6000 in an increasingly tough environment developers are warming up to group housing portals sandesh wadhwa cofounder of groupbuying portal groupbookingsin said many people sitting on the fence have swung into action in the last three months there is more demand coming from nris for midsized housing projects in gurgaon bangalore hyderabad and chennai he said sandeep reddy cofounder of groffrcom said the website has seen a healthy sales conversion rate in the last two months primarily driven by nris the mood among nri investors is buoyant as they now need to spend fewer dollars or pounds for the same property the subrs 60 lakh properties are most in demand he added vaibhav sharma assistant professor of finance at winthrop university in south carolina has booked two flats in gurgaon through groupbookings in if i were to invest in the us the property value would fetch me a negative return its a good time to enter the indian real estate market where i think i can expect at least 6 annualized returns in the residential space he said sharmas purchase decision was also driven by the favourable exchange rate he bought the flats last september when the rupee was close to 50 to a dollar i also received a 10 discount by signing up on the portal i didnt have to haggle or make several house hunting trips sharma added