# 46% of NRI Owners Want to Sell: Read the Sample By Saurabh Garg, founder·5 min read·Published 2026-08-07 # A Report Says 46% of NRI Owners Want to Sell Now. Read the Sample Before You Read the Number **On 29 July 2026 a Vancouver firm called Remittor published its Annual NRI Wealth Report 2026. It says 46% of the NRI property owners in its data want to sell immediately and another 26% want out within six months. The sample is about 150 client engagements at one company. That is a signal worth reading, and it is not a survey of NRIs.** The number travelled fast, and it travelled in two opposite directions, which is the more interesting part of this story. ## What the report says The findings, as reported on 29 July 2026: - 46% of the NRI property owners in the data want to sell now; 26% plan to exit within six months. - Residential property is 89% of what is heading into the sale pipeline. Apartments alone are 63% of the residential assets. - More than 60% of those homes were bought between 2010 and 2019. - More than half of the owners who intend to sell want to move the proceeds overseas. - More than half reported trouble getting into Indian income tax portals. - The properties sit mostly in Maharashtra, then Delhi-NCR, Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka. Named markets include Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Bengaluru. Sanu Nair, founder and chief executive of Remittor, framed it as a liquidity phase rather than a rush for the door. His words: properties bought during the 2010 to 2022 NRI wave "are now entering a liquidity phase," and the pattern reflects "a more deliberate approach to wealth allocation rather than panic selling." ## Where the number comes from This is the part most of the coverage left out. The data is roughly 150 NRI client engagements at Remittor, drawn from property intake disclosures, transaction records and cross-border transfer activity, and based in North America, mostly Canada and the United States. The report itself says it is meant to identify emerging behavioural trends rather than represent the broader NRI population. So: 150 files, one firm, one continent, and a firm whose business is moving money across borders. People who walk into a cross-border transfer company are already thinking about moving money. That is not a flaw in the report. It is what the report says it is. It is a flaw in every headline that turned it into a statement about NRIs. We hold ourselves to citing what a number actually measures, so we will say it plainly. Read this as a directional read on one advisory book, not as a market share of intent. ## The same report, two headlines On 29 July, Business Standard ran it as "46% of NRI property owners want to sell now; 26% plan exits within 6 months." The same day, Business Today and others ran it as "Nearly half of NRIs plan to diversify property investments in India." Both come off the same report. The gap is framing. "Diversify" is the softer word for the same act, which is selling one asset to fund something else. The underlying figures do not change: 46% now, 26% inside six months, 89% of it residential. If you own a flat in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore or Gurgaon and you read only the second headline, you would conclude your neighbours are buying more. The report's own numbers say they are listing. ## What it means if you are one of them Two of the findings have teeth for an owner sitting abroad. **Over half want the money out of India.** That runs straight into the mechanics: TDS deducted by your buyer on the gross sale price, capital gains worked out separately, proceeds landing in an NRO account, and the USD 1 million per financial year repatriation limit with its forms. We set the sequence out in [repatriating property sale proceeds from an NRO account](/guides/repatriating-property-sale-proceeds-nro). The cost and the calendar of an actual sale are in [the total cost and timeline of selling NRI property](/guides/total-cost-timeline-selling-nri-property). **Over half could not get into the tax portal.** That is a compliance problem, not a market one, and it is the sort of thing that turns a three-month sale into a nine-month sale. It usually traces back to a PAN, an outdated mobile number, or an unlinked bank account, all of which are fixable before you list rather than after you have a buyer. One more finding is worth naming because it costs sellers money: the report notes a gap between what owners think their flat is worth, often anchored to a purchase price from 2014, and what a professional valuation says. A flat priced off memory sits on the market. If you are selling from abroad without flying in, the route is in [selling NRI property without visiting India](/guides/sell-nri-property-without-visiting-india), and the full process is in [the NRI guide to selling property in India](/guides/nri-selling-property-in-india-guide). This is a report on what one firm found in its own client base. It is not advice on whether to sell your flat, and nobody should make that call off a 150-file sample. ## FAQ **Who published the 46% figure?** Remittor, a Vancouver-based cross-border wealth transfer firm, in its Annual NRI Wealth Report 2026, reported on 29 July 2026. **How many people were surveyed?** About 150 NRI client engagements, primarily in Canada and the United States. The report states it is intended to identify behavioural trends rather than represent the broader NRI population. **Which states hold the most NRI property heading for resale?** Maharashtra leads in the report's data, followed by Delhi-NCR, Kerala, Gujarat and Karnataka, with Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurugram and Bengaluru named as markets. *66 MG Road newsdesk* ## Sources - Business Standard, "46% of NRI property owners want to sell now; 26% plan exits within 6 months" (29 July 2026): [https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/46-of-nri-property-owners-want-to-sell-now-26-plan-exits-within-6-months-126072900685_1.html](https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/46-of-nri-property-owners-want-to-sell-now-26-plan-exits-within-6-months-126072900685_1.html) - Business Today, "Nearly half of NRIs plan to diversify property investments in India. What's driving the shift?" (29 July 2026): [https://www.businesstoday.in/nri/invest/story/nearly-half-of-nris-plan-to-diversify-property-investments-in-india-whats-driving-the-shift-546044-2026-07-29](https://www.businesstoday.in/nri/invest/story/nearly-half-of-nris-plan-to-diversify-property-investments-in-india-whats-driving-the-shift-546044-2026-07-29) - PNI News, "Nearly Half of NRIs Plan to Diversify Their Property Investments in India: Remittor Annual NRI Wealth Report 2026" (29 July 2026), methodology and Sanu Nair quotes: [https://www.pninews.com/nearly-half-of-nris-plan-to-diversify-their-property-investments-in-india-remittor-annual-nri-wealth-report-2026/](https://www.pninews.com/nearly-half-of-nris-plan-to-diversify-their-property-investments-in-india-remittor-annual-nri-wealth-report-2026/) - South Asian Herald, "NRIs Rebalance India Property Portfolios" (29 July 2026), sample size, 63% apartments, 89% residential, tax portal finding: [https://southasianherald.com/nris-rebalance-india-property-portfolios/](https://southasianherald.com/nris-rebalance-india-property-portfolios/) - Storyboard18, "Over half of NRI property sellers plan to transfer funds overseas: Report": [https://www.storyboard18.com/amp/brand-makers/over-half-of-nri-property-sellers-plan-to-transfer-funds-overseas-report-106131.htm](https://www.storyboard18.com/amp/brand-makers/over-half-of-nri-property-sellers-plan-to-transfer-funds-overseas-report-106131.htm) Information on this page is as on 2026-08-07. Rules, rates, deadlines and government portals change without notice, so verify against the official source before you act. This page is for information only. It is not tax or legal advice, and it is not a substitute for a qualified adviser who knows your position. ## Compare and cost - [The NRI Property Management Companies in India: A Comparison You Can Check](/guides/best-nri-property-management-companies-india) - [What NRI Property Management Costs in India: The Four Models and What Hides in Each](/guides/nri-property-management-cost-india) - [NoBroker NRI Services Review: What the Pages Promise and What They Leave Out](/guides/nobroker-nri-services-review) --- Source: [https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-sell-intent-remittor-wealth-report-aug-2026](https://66mgroad.com/guides/nri-sell-intent-remittor-wealth-report-aug-2026) · 66 MG Road. Full LLM brief: https://66mgroad.com/llms.txt