Despite an increase in the share of commercial investments to 42% in Q1 2024 from 39% a year earlier, they declined by 52% in value terms. Similarly, the share of residential investments also increased to 41% in Q1 2024 from 27% in Q1 2023. However, investments declined by 33% annually in value terms. Investments significantly decreased by 73% in the industrial and warehousing sector in Q1 2024 over the previous year.
Institutional investments in Indian real estate sector touched USD 1.0 billion in the first quarter of 2024, signalling a steady and positive start to the year. While this was a 40% drop compared to the same period last year, India’s real estate investments showed improvement on a sequential basis registering 21% QoQ rise. Foreign investments retained their dominance, forming 55% of the total inflows during the quarter. Domestic investments too witnessed a notable rise at 15% YoY in Q1 2024. The share of domestic inflows in overall institutional investments continued to rise to 45% in Q1 2024, compared to 24% in Q1 2023.
India’s commercial office segment has been the favourite asset class of institutional investors over the years. They have allocated USD 17.6 bn in the form of direct investments during 2005-2019. JLL research indicates that 294 mn sq. ft. of office stock would be eligible for REIT. This would translate to an additional investment opportunity of USD 35 bn in near term.