The young couple came looking for a home. By the time they left, they had decided which one to buy. They even knew how much of a hole it would burn in their pockets.

“There were multiple projects on display and we could compare the prices and features before deciding on our dream home,” says Nilanjana Bhattacharyya, an executive with a recruitment agency, looking back to the day last year when she walked into the fair with her husband Shantanu.

The two then lived in Madhyamgram and were planning to buy a flat in Tollygunge.

The couple also found a “flexi-funding option” at the same expo. “It suited us,” Nilanjana recalls.

Welcome to Home Front, rated the most successful property fair in the east and where choice comes with a thought to spare for your purse.

“Home Front is a one-stop solution for the home-seeker, with apartments ranging from Rs 5 lakh to 2 crore, from Barasat to Diamond Harbour, on display,” says Sushil Mohta, vice-president of the Bengal unit of real estate body Credai and one of the men behind the exhibition.

He isn’t exaggerating. More and more home-hunting Calcuttans are visiting the expo, now held twice a year, to check out flats on offer.

Fellow developer Pradip Chopra says the reason is simple. It’s not easy for a prospective homebuyer to go around collecting catalogues of projects from developers.

“The housing exposition, which showcases nearly 300 projects under one roof, gives the customer a wide range of options to choose from and helps him take an informed decision,” explains Credai’s state secretary.

Today, from less than 20 stalls at the 2001 “trial venture” at Metro Plaza, Home Front has grown.

“There are now over 100 stalls at the fair and we cannot accommodate all the applicants because of lack of space. We might look at erecting an outdoor hangar to squeeze in more participants at this winter’s edition at Netaji Indoor Stadium,” says S.D. Gupta of G.S. Marketing Associates.

The event management house, which has put together more than a hundred theme exhibitions for various industries, has been organising Home Front with Credai since the expo was launched five years ago.

The fair, which was shifted to Ice Skating Rink and then to the bigger indoor stadium, now records daily footfalls in excess of 10,000. The summer version is scheduled to kick off on May 19 at Salt Lake Stadium.

“Business at Home Front has been growing at 30 per cent year-on-year, in line with the industry growth, and the event presents a win-win situation for both the customer and the participant. It also does a lot for the image of the city and provides the regulators and administrators with a roadmap of the city’s real estate growth,” says Chopra.

Property marketing agents at the fair share the optimism. “Home Front gives us great exposure since so many products are showcased under one umbrella,” says Jitendra Khaitan of Pioneer Properties.

“From the customer’s point of view, there’s a comfort level, which stems from the fact that most of the participants have proven credentials and the deals are transparent.”

While the fair has grown in size and stature, the profile of visitors has also changed.

“We now get very focused customers who know what they want. While few deals are closed on the spot itself, it’s the exposure which leads to healthy conversions through following up leads,” says Khaitan, whose firm concluded Rs 16-18 crore worth of business at the Home Front that anchored the 2004 Mega Fair on the Maidan.

Credai’s Mohta, who is also managing director of the Merlin Group, feels that the exhibition has contributed to the corporate face of the city’s real estate industry.

Chopra agrees. Home Front, he adds, also helps sustain his forum.

“The fair yields some 25-30 lakh to the developers’ forum through stall rentals, sponsorships, etc. This has helped us grow the event every year and add value to the seminars and debates aimed at raising awareness. We are also using this platform to educate the customer on protecting his rights.”

Santosh Rungta, vice-president of Credai-India, says the expo has “convinced us of the need to display a wide array of products in a single spread to provide more critical inputs to the customer”, while “word-of-mouth” publicity has helped bring in new customers.