On a successful streak: From textile to real estate

Young Indian entrepreneur Amrita Chandhok is a name to reckon with, having dabbled in a range of industries

Having received her education from Nottingham Trent University - Pearl Academy of Fashion and Marketing Management from Indian Institute of Technology, driven young professional Amrita Chandhok started her career in the UAE as an Administrative Manager in valuation at Reliant Surveyors. Subsequently, Chandhok was promoted to the post of Associate Director in 2020. Within her remit at Reliant Surveyors, she undertook a range of valuations related to both commercial and residential properties within the UAE by providing informed, market-facing, and independent advice to clients. Her core function has been undertaking residential and commercial property valuations for secured lending purposes and financial reporting for a range of clients, including banks, government entities, large mid-sized corporates, owners, and occupiers in the UAE.

Reliant Surveyors has been a key player in the advisory industry for the past four decades, with projects valued approximately at Dh100 billion-plus. The firm has continued to expand its professional services practice ever since, as it diversifies beyond its traditional domain of valuation and advisory services to real estate brokerage with the new name PNAAP PROPERTIES.

Prior to the UAE leg of her career, Chandhok worked in fashion merchandising and product management for some years, where she handled brand segmentation and positioning, portfolio management, brand communications, new product development and pricing. Chandhok also holds the distinction of being an Associate of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (AssocRICS) and RICS Registered Valuer.

Chandhok hit a special career milestone in February of this year when she undertook the role of Co-founder in PNAAP PROPERTIES. She aims to extend the reach of the group by providing one-stop real estate services, such as buying and selling, leasing, strategic consulting, and valuation advisory services, to a full range of properties. Helping Chandhok dispense her duties is a dedicated team of RICS professionals, international agents, and staff, offering a full spectrum of innovative and customisable property solutions and advisory services to clients in the UAE and abroad.

Commenting on the same, Chandhok said “We are a company driven by passion and hold dear our values i.e. integrity, honesty, transparency, quality, and professionalism. With a client-centric approach, we remain committed to delivering excellence and perfection in everything we do. Our sheer commitment, dedication, passion and devotion towards work has enabled us to grow exponentially in the Middle East and India — with plans to set foot in the UK market very soon.”

“The post-Covid-19 resilience of UAE’s economy has been attracting wealthy investors from across the world and especially from India, Europe, England and the Americas,” said Chandhok. “This exponential growth in high-net-worth end user buyers is here to stay and it will increase the demand for luxury sector properties through 2021 to next year,” she added.

Chandhok opined that Dubai Expo 2020 is expected to drive residency demand throughout the UAE. “We have noticed an increase in international enquiries relating to various real estate services such as sales and acquisition of residential units, opening of new offices and obtaining new development land for potential hospitality projects,” she said.

Chandhok stated that the Dubai residential market continued to grow in the second quarter of 2021 and reached 14,400 transactions, which is the highest number of transactions since the beginning of 2014. The total transactions including ready and off-plan, grew by over 34 per cent when compared to the previous quarter and by 175 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

“The off-plan transactions picked up again in Q2 of 2021 with an increase of 56 per cent when compared to the previous quarter and were at their highest when compared to the past few years. The secondary market grew by 22 per cent only, however the volume is at its highest since 2013.

“The value of residential transactions grew by 48 per cent when compared to the previous quarter where off-plan property market grew by 56 per cent and ready property market grew by 45 per cent. Ready property market has seen significant increase in terms of value in Q2 of this year in contrast to the growth in volume,” she revealed.

Lauding Chandhok’s expertise in the real estate field, Naresh Sharma, Chairman of the PNAAP Group stated: “Despite the disruptive effects of the pandemic during the past months, we have not only been able to retain our market share but expand our business lines. To continue providing the high level of service our clients have come to expect from us, we have expanded our real estate services as a brokerage agency under the vision of our Co-founder Amrita Chandhok, which further helps to strengthen our existence in the region.”

For more information, please visit www.reliantsurveyors.com | www.pnaap.com