What Housing.com gives advertisers
Paid advertisers on Housing.com see responses to their listings and projects in their Housing.com account. For automated delivery, Housing.com provides API access to the leads on your account, and where the Housing team offers it, leads can be pushed to a URL you give them. Which of these your account has depends on your Housing.com plan, so confirm it with your Housing.com contact.
How the signed pull works
With a pull, your CRM calls Housing.com’s API every few minutes and asks for leads created since the last call. Each request is signed with an HMAC — a code computed from the request and your secret key — so Housing.com can check that the request really came from you. Your key never travels with the request itself.
Signed requests usually include a timestamp. If the server clock on the CRM side drifts, requests can be rejected even though the key is right. PropZolo’s Housing.com connector allows for small clock drift and keeps the key encrypted, so you paste it once and do not see it again.
Push versus pull for Housing.com
Both routes end in the same lead record; the difference is timing and who maintains the connection.
| Signed API pull | Push from Housing | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sets it up | You paste API credentials | The Housing team adds your URL |
| Delivery time | Within a few minutes | When Housing sends it |
| If it breaks | The source health alarm flags the gap | The source health alarm flags the gap |
| Availability | With API access on your plan | Where Housing offers it |
Setting it up, step by step
The pull can be live the same day you receive credentials.
- Ask your Housing.com contact for API credentials (key and secret) for your advertiser account.
- Add Housing.com as a lead source in your CRM and paste the credentials.
- Let the first pull run, then make a test enquiry on your own listing from another number.
- Check the lead carries the listing or project it came from and lands in the right queue.
- Turn on assignment rules and a first-call SLA for the source.
Avoiding duplicates across portals
A buyer looking for a 2 BHK in one locality will often enquire on Housing.com and on other portals within days. Normalise every phone number (+91 plus ten digits; NRI numbers keep their own country code) and check it against all sources before creating a lead. A repeat becomes a new interest on the existing contact, labelled as a repeat, not a fresh lead for a different agent.
A pull may also fetch an enquiry that a push or an agent already entered. Because there is one contact per phone number, the second copy attaches to the open lead as a labelled repeat instead of becoming a new lead.
Speed to lead with a pulled feed
A pull adds a few minutes between the enquiry and your queue. Make that up on your side: notify the assigned agent the moment the lead lands, and set the SLA from the enquiry time in the lead data, not the time the lead was created in the CRM. That timestamp also starts TRAI’s seven-day window for promotional follow-up calls and SMS.
RERA numbers on Housing.com listings
Under Section 11(2) of the RERA Act, the promoter’s advertisements for registered projects must show the registration number and the regulator’s website; your listing of the project should carry the same details. Store the number on the project in your CRM so every listing and every follow-up message carries the same registration.
Questions
How often does PropZolo pull Housing.com leads?
Every few minutes. Each pull asks Housing.com’s API for new leads on your account. If your Housing team has set up push delivery for your account, those leads arrive as soon as Housing sends them instead of waiting for the next pull.
Why are my Housing.com API requests being rejected?
The usual causes are a wrong or rotated secret key, or a server clock that has drifted, because signed requests carry a timestamp. Paste fresh credentials from Housing.com first. If the problem continues, contact your Housing.com account manager to confirm API access is active on your plan.
Can the same Housing.com enquiry be recorded twice?
It should not be. Match on the normalised phone number: if the same enquiry arrives by pull and by push, or an agent already typed it in, the second copy attaches to the existing lead instead of creating a new one, and the repeat is labelled.
When does TRAI’s seven-day window start for a Housing.com lead?
From the moment the buyer enquired, not when your CRM fetched the lead. Promotional calls and SMS based on that enquiry are allowed for seven days. After that you need registered consent, or you limit yourself to service messages about something already in progress.
Sources
- Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 — India Code, accessed 12 October 2026
- TRAI — Unsolicited commercial communication, accessed 12 October 2026
Written by the PropZolo team. General information, not legal or tax advice.