New Delhi, Oct. 3 -- The age of property buyers is an important demographic variable which Indian real estate stakeholders from developers to marketers and advertisement agencies must focus on. Over the past decade, there has been a tectonic shift in not just the overall buying pattern but also in the age of property buyers.

Until the late '90s, many Indians preferred to buy homes using their savings rather than opting for home loans. As a result, most homebuyers were in the age group of 45-55 years or even closer to retirement - by then, they had accumulated sufficient wealth to support property purchase.

In this period, younger Indians with much lower savings kept away and were also very cautious about bank loans, seeing them as risky...