Indian real estate market witnesses a record US$ 6 bn worth investment in 2019

Highlights Investment quantum increased by 27 per cent to reach US$ 6.06 billion in 2019, compared to US$ 4.76 billion in 2018. Office and land deals dominated investment activities with each witnessing around 40 per cent of total transactions. Majority of capital inflow were from foreign players with about 65 per cent share. Key sectors that attracted investments in 2019 – Office (39 per cent), Development sites/land (39 per cent), Hotels (11 per cent). The key gateway cities of Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad led investments. CBRE South Asia, India’s leading real estate consulting firm, has released comprehensive findings of investment trends in the domestic industry and offered a vertical-wise break-up of the fund inflow in the sector. The findings by CBRE state that the real estate industry in the year 2019 recorded a 27 per cent increase in investment with approximate fund inflow of US$ 6 billion across all key categories. The findings further state that the investment activities were dominated by ‘Office Sector’and ‘Development Sites/Land’, with each commanding around 40 per cent inflow of funds. This was followed by 11 per cent investment in hotels. The investment in ‘Development Sites/Lands’ in 2019 saw a 5 per cent increase as compared to 2018. The Hotels segment saw a 10 per cent increase in the total investment against that of 2018. Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE, says, “The healthy investment activity in the real estate sector is a testimony of its performance and resilience.With the industry becoming more organised, transparent, and profitable, it will continue to attract investments from global as well as domestic players. The steps initiated by the government to increase liquidity in the market have also worked well in increasing the confidence of investors.” Gaurav Kumar and Nikhil Bhatia, Managing Director and Co-Heads, Capital Markets, India, CBRE South Asia, further add, “India has emerged as a strong regional hub for institutional investors looking for opportunities in office, retail, warehousing and hospitality. This is underlined by significant foreign capital being deployed at land stage. We expect India to be better placed in the region on a relative basis due to the robust handling of the COVID-19 situation by the government.” Giving a comparison of the investment received, the findings also mentioned that the sector received a total investment of US$ 4.8 billion in 2018. City-wise the investment activities were led by Mumbai, the NCR, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The investment activity in all the key segments was led mostly by foreign players who contributed to the tune of 65 per cent. The total investment made by the domestic players in various real estate projects accounted to 35 per cent.