Summary
Customs and Practice define the rules of Real estate.
Real estate is/has been real business since the Jurassic Age but Tech is recent.
Analysis
When it comes to real estate, it is only the players that change but the land remains same. Most of the land in India is locked up in ancient paperwork(?) with no proper certificate as to title or chain of documents to establish a clear title.Therefore the question of transparency doesn't arise.But that is not to say that the person sitting on the land is the title holder.
As cities continue to expand on all four sides, the problem of title holding is manifesting as a major headache. Real estate firms in order to satiate the demand for both commercial and residential consumers has 'muscled in' to create a 'credible record' of title.well.... from 'available' sources to the satisfaction of the regulatory authorities.This is because most of the land being acquired was once agricultural land or agricultural land being sold by poor farmers for better price and life.And agricultural land records are unreliable.Unreliable because rural money lenders grabbed farmers land for non-repayment of loans or some other reason and the records were changed.The list goes on.
The current economic boom in India has done one good thing for the property market and that is establishment of not only proper land records but also creating electronic system. Suddenly ancient problems of India are coming to the fore and defining the rules of the game both for the State and Estate.
And all of this could be attributed to the 'invisible hand' of Adam Smith.
