14 December 2013
An escrow account is a temporary pass through account held by a third party during the process of a transaction between two parties. This is a temporary account as it operates until the completion of a transaction process, which is implemented after all the conditions between the buyer and the seller are settled.. It is quite popular in USA in real estate. In real Estate, the fund flows for the development of the project from any source is kept in the escrow account and the funds utilised for the same are also generated from the escrow account. Even the buyers of the housing units in a project transfer the home price to the escrow account and the amount is not transferred to the seller until the project is completed
14 December 2013
in addition to Shriram's detailed explanation, please note that in India, escrow is now being frequently used for by bankers for infra projects, mergers and acquisitions etc.