Real estate PE investment witnesses 47% surge in March quarter

Private equity (PE) investment inflows into the Indian real estate sector stood at $1 billion during the March quarter, almost five times the December quarter, and witnessed a 47% slump when compared to the March quarter of 2021, according to a report by Savills India, a global property consultancy firm. During the December quarter of 2021, PE investments into Indian real estate stood at $218 million against $1.9 billion during the March quarter last year. According to the report, commercial office assets during the last quarter remained the frontrunner, garnering more than two-thirds share of the investment pie. All the quarterly investment in the sector came from foreign institutional investors and was focused on core office assets in Bengaluru. Savills India told the media that the unabated interest of global investors in Indian real estate developments coupled with the confidence that real estate consumption will rebound once the Covid-19 is over. It has marked the largest acquisition of an operational real estate asset in India in the last five years. The first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022) has already clocked in nearly one-third of the investment inflows that the sector witnessed in 2021. Savills India, Managing director, Capital Markets, Diwakar Rana, told the media that while the Covid-19 pandemic had delayed the brisk activity in most real estate segments, the third wave didn’t have any adverse impact on the real estate sector. During the quarter, key transactions included investment of GIC into Bengaluru's Bhartiya City and $346 million investment of CPP into select commercial office assets of RMZ Corp and $248 million investment of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority into Viviana Mall. Image Source