There has been a growing interest in investing in immovable property from the NRI community in the last few years. Real estate developers have come up with select residential apartments, villas, beach homes, serviced apartments which appeal to the returning Indian's aesthetics. The easy interest rates on housing finance and the improved lifestyle that developers have created has enabled NRIs to acquire property not only for investment, but also for personal use.

The response to the real estate market has been so encouraging from the overseas community that it has prompted housing finance companies (HFCs) to set up branches in countries where there is a high NRI concentration, as in the case of ICICI Bank. The bank has representative offices in Dubai, New York, Bahrain, Singapore and the UK to tap potential property investors there.

ICICI Bank, Sundaram Home Finance Limited, LIC Housing Finance, HDFC, CanFin Homes, Citibank and a host of other scheduled banks are vying for lending opportunities to NRIs.