The real estate sector – the second-highest employment generator in India – is one of the most extensively recognised categories comprising four main verticals – residential, hospitality, commercial, and retail. Driven by increasing transparency and returns, the sector has been attracting private investments. Consider this: Blackstone, the private market investor that has invested about Rs 3.8 lakh crore (US$ 50 billion) in the sector in India, and as a recent report indicates, it aims to invest an additional Rs 17 lakh crore (US$22 billion) by 2030. Several initiatives by the Government of India along with the governments of respective states have only been encouraging development in the sector. Notable initiatives and opportunities for real estate companies have been coming along the ‘Housing for All’ and the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ with a plan to build 100 smart cities. While this market has been reeling under the impact of the pandemic and coming to a standstill for atleast two years, it has now begun to pick up steam. What’s more, in the post-pandemic era, developers and other entities still have a voracious desire for property acquisition. ANAROCK Research reveals that between January 2022 till date, various entities sealed at least 28 separate land deals cumulatively accounting for over 1,237 acre across the country. Of the total transacted land, at least 18 deals accounting for 351 acre are earmarked for multiple residential projects across cities. Hyderabad remained highly buoyant in the period, with the most land transactions – five separate deals for 715 acre accounted for over 59 per cent of the total land transacted between January to date. Tier-II and -III cities with major land deals included Ahmedabad (2 deals for over 6 acre), Nagpur (one deal for over 58 acre), and Sonipat (one deal for over 50 acre). The current shortage of housing in urban areas is estimated to be approximately 10 million units. An additional 25 million units of affordable housing are required by 2030 to meet the growth in the country’s urban population. The demand for housing and office space in India is expected to continue to rise as the country’s urban landscape changes positively. Since the sector offers significant investment opportunities with potential for long-term profits, investors await to invest. Even more, a report by Savills India indicates that the real estate demand for data centres is expected to increase by 15-18 million sq ft by 2025. Also, the organised retail real estate stock is expected to increase by 28 per cent to 82 million sq ft by 2023. Keeping this vision in mind, the CONSTRUCTION WORLD will organise the “17th Construction World Architect & Builder Awards 2022”. The Construction World Architect and Builder (CWAB) Awards, initiated in 2006, are India’s most coveted awards for the architecture and building industry. The awards recognise the people and organisations responsible for the changing landscape of the country – the Top Architects and the Top Builders of India and felicitate them. The event is supported by Marmo Solutions as Title Partner, Johnson Lifts and Escalators as the Gold Partner, and Lanxess as the Green Partner. The jury meet for the event is scheduled for July 14, 2022. The nomination for the event closes on July 6, 2022. The CWAB Awards, for the past decade and a half, have featured the best speakers from across the globe who have spoken on various themes like INNOVISION, YOUTH, GREEN, STAR, FUSION, and more. The 17th CWAB Awards 2022 will award the best and brightest minds not just across the Top Architect & Top Builder categories, furthermore across Noteworthy Projects which was introduced in 2016 to celebrate our new decade of CWAB. Besides, the Builders and Architects in Tier-II and Tier-III cities will also be recognised through the Regional Awards. To know more, click here.