NEW DELHI (INDIA):One of India’s leading real estate educational institutes, The Real Estate Management Institute (REMI), has collaborated with MCHI CREDAI, the most prominent and recognized body of real estate developers in the Mumbai and MMR region, to launch the first comprehensive Real Estate Broker Certification Program.
As the International Affiliate of The Institute of Real Estate Management- IREM, USA, REMI has developed the program to create a qualifying platform for brokers, who are the essential facilitators of real estate transactions. This 30-hour part-time program spread over 3 weeks, has been carefully designed in line with global broker licensing benchmarks and in consultation with key industry associations in India. The aim of the program is to create well-informed brokers by equipping them with the necessary technical, business and entrepreneurial skills.
Real estate brokers work as essential facilitators between buyers and sellers/developers in a real estate transaction. While the broker segment is estimated to be a US$4 billion industry in India, with over 500,000 brokers, it has traditionally been unorganized and unregulated . With the real estate sector accounting for 7.8% GDP and slated to be a $180bn opportunity by 2020 , with a skill requirement of ~75 million people by 2022, the broker certification program is set to address the skill-gap and provide much needed training for the largely unorganized but essential real estate broker.
With the impending implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, RERA 2016, passed earlier this year, real estate brokers or agents will need to register to be able to facilitate a real estate transaction. In more advanced markets, in addition to the registration and verification process, real estate brokers and property agents need to undergo a minimum of in some cases 45 hours of training, followed by annual continuing professional development (CPD) training, and successfully complete the license exam.
As India’s real estate industry gears up for increased regulatory vigilance, experts believe that in line with global best practices, professional certification programs should be made mandatory for brokers,who connect buyers and sellers, manage documentation and work as key intermediaries in the real estate transaction process.
Shubika Bilkha, Business-Head, REMI, said, “Through the Real Estate Broker Certification program in collaboration with MCHI-CREDAI, we at REMI- The Real Estate Management Institute, look to facilitate industry development by increasing the number of qualified real estate brokers, who are the key facilitators of real estate transactions. Our program has been developed in conjunction with the industry and benchmarked on global broker licensing norms, to provide technical, business and entrepreneurial skills to brokers. With increased regulatory vigilance in the sector through the introduction of RERA 2016, combined with a more informed consumer of today, enhancing their knowledge and building the required skills will be an essential pre-requisite for brokers to remain competitive and stay relevant in an evolving environment.”
Tejas Vyas, Chairman Exhibition Committee, said, “REMI is providing the required bridging gap solution to the real estate industry by creating grass route education to the industry stake holders.”
T D Joseph, Business Head, MCHI – CREDAI, said, “The partnership between REMI and MCHI-CREDAI highlights the need for sufficient training in a range of disciplines and emphasizes the want for ongoing training and development. MCHI-CREDAI and REMI are going to work towards skills development especially the broker fraternity and capacity building in the Indian real estate sector. All in all such collaboration will help organizing the sector and will make the functioning of activities faster and process driven.”