Institutional investment in real estate may be rising slightly in 2018 to $5.5 billion

Experts reveal that institutional investment in real estate may have increased marginally to $5.5 billion in 2018. For foreign as well as domestic investors, opportunities for growth are tremendous in the Indian real estate market.

Statistics reveal that the Indian real estate segment has witnessed investments of around $4.2 billion, which is about Rs 29,413 crore till the month of October2018. It is also expected that this figure will touch the $5.5 billion mark by the end of the year. Incidentally, this is the highest investment made in the real estate sector since 2009, according to a property consultant. It also added that the real estate industry has been around $5.42 billion in 2017 and it is likely that 2018 will be a better year for the real estate sector.

Institutional investments refer to the ones made by the investment decks of real estate in the foreign banks. Family offices, real estate developer cum investors, private equity, corporate groups from foreign countries and sovereign wealth funds. However, certain investments are excluded from this category. These include the investments made by the Non-banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), banks and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).

According to experts, the real estate sector in India is at the point of inflexion. In the post-global financial crisis scenario, the investment opportunities have substantially improved. Besides, institutional investments have been rising since the starting of 2014. This trend has continued over the last few years and 2018 is likely to be a great year in this context for the real estate industry. This trend is suggestive of the fact, that the market has got good growth opportunities for the domestic as well as foreign investors and real estate companies to need to reap these benefits.

The investment momentum, according to experts, is likely to grow manifold from where it stands presently. This is due to several factors like the rising confidence of the investors, an ongoing overhaul of the policy, greater transparency in the industry and gradual recovery in the real estate sector. Besides, the demand for grade A office space for commercial purposes has also been increasing.It also appears that one of the key factors for the fast-growing interest for real estate investors in the commercial front has been the move made by the government to inculcate progressive modifications in the REIT policy of India in the last three years. This has made the market friendlier to investors. Evidently, global investors are more interested in acquiring property in India and several international groups are developing their REIT portfolios in the country.

As the real estate sector in India continues to improve, the investors are keen to buy residential and commercial property. This is a good phase for investors to acquire real estate in India.