Private equity investments in Indian real estate industry stood at $3.4 billion, or around ₹271 billion, at the end of 2022, staying at levels seen in 2021, according to international property consultant Savills.
Data suggests that commercial office assets remained the front runner during 2022, garnering nearly half, or 45%, of the investment pie. Residential and retail sectors also witnessed robust growth, riding high on the end user’s demand.
The year 2022 marked the largest acquisition of an operational retail asset in India in the last five years and also one of the lowest residential inventory overhangs in over a decade.
Persisting geopolitical challenges amid the Russia-Ukraine war, high global inflation, a fresh Covid outbreak and lockdown in China have slowed down post-pandemic economic recovery across the world. However, despite these economic pressures, PE investments in Indian real estate assets provided favourable avenues for both global and domestic institutional investors.
Savills India expects $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion of private equity investments in real estate in 2023. Growth in India’s manufacturing sector and digitisation of the economy is likely to drive investments in industrial and warehousing, data centres, and life sciences segments.
It estimates that India has the potential to create a demand of around 10 million sq. ft. every year for life sciences R&D lab spaces till 2030. This could provide institutional investors with ample opportunity to increase allocations to the sector, especially in the development space.
“Commercial office remains the preferred investment product in India which absorbs around a third of the total Apac office demand by space. With the increase of office REITs, this trend will grow as domestic investor participation increases. Data centres have been the second most visible investment product in 2022. India remains a favourable destination for global real estate investors despite the global events and we will witness newer offshore capital enter India in 2023," said Diwakar Rana, managing director, Capital Markets, Savills India.
