Anarock Property Consultants, set up by global real estate service firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) India's ex-country head Anuj Puri, on Monday said that it has appointed Housing.com's co-founder and ex-CEO Rahul Yadav as its chief product and technology officer.
In July 2015, Housing.com's board had sacked Yadav, stating that his behaviour towards investors and media was not "befitting" of a CEO. Housing.com earlier this year merged with News Corp-backed PropTiger.com.
This appointment is in line with Anarock’s highly technology-driven orientation and business model for its residential advisory services.Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants
Stating that the online real estate business in India is still at a fledgling stage, Puri said his company is taking the lead in helping it attain maturity. Anarock’s chairman also said:
So far, the real estate sector has not been able to emulate the success of e-commerce for consumer durables and services. We intend to change that, and Rahul Yadav’s experience in harnessing the consumer housing market via technology will add the key element.
The consultant noted that Indian residential buyers and investors would not embrace an e-commerce model of property purchase unless they get a seamless experience from online selection to offline advisory and transaction closure.
Anuj Puri also noted:
As the brain behind a highly successful, technology-intensive platform, Rahul Yadav’s credentials are well- established. Before joining Anarock, Rahul also advised Lodha Group for a brief period.
On his appointment, Yadav said it was the logical next step in his career, and added:
Given my product and technology background, I am fascinated by the highly tech-driven approach that Anarock is adopting for its residential real estate business.
In April this year, JLL had sold its India residential brokerage arm to its former country head Puri for an undisclosed amount.
Puri, who quit JLL India in February after serving 10 years in the company, had 50 percent stake in the brokerage arm ‘Jones Lang LaSalle Residential Pvt Ltd (JLLR)‘.
Puri acquired the remaining shares to take full control. Anarock will hire about 650 professional brokers and is lining up about Rs 150 crore this year to expand its presence in both offline and online housing brokerage market.
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