Indian airports are rapidly becoming a significant growth avenue for the country's retail sector, with brands across various consumer segments actively opening stores to tap into the increasing number of flyers and strong domestic tourism momentum.
Mixed-use real estate projects, integrating residential, commercial, retail, and hospitality segments, are gaining significant traction in India as developers seek to maximise returns, optimise land use, and diversify cash flows, with experts predicting 35-40% of urban real estate supply will be mixed-use by 2030.
The Indian real estate sector received a record equity capital inflow of Rs 14.25 billion last year, higher by 25 per cent annually, as developers and institutional investors remained bullish on growth potential, according to CBRE.
Office redevelopment is emerging as a key growth frontier for developers as India's commercial real estate market shifts towards quality, sustainability, and capital efficiency. With land parcels scarce in central business districts (CBDs) and demand for Grade A offices remaining strong, developers and investors are increasingly turning to ageing office stock in prime locations to unlock value.
After three post-pandemic years of an upcycle, it was a mixed bag for the realty sector in 2025, with sales volumes in the residential real estate moderating across top cities, and commercial real estate and institutional investments emerging as standout performers. Residential: Volumes soften, value holds firm.
Part-I of this three-part series dives into Delhi-NCR's SPR, Sohna, Dwarka Expressway, and Jewar Airport leading the charge.
Colliers reports that GCC leasing has jumped from 4.6 million square feet in 2021 and is expected to hit 10.6 million square feet by 2025 -- a clear sign that multinationals see Bengaluru as a long-term base.
'While the concept was introduced globally over four decades ago, branded residences have taken off now in India.'
Indian real estate sector saw more land deals in 2024 at over 2,200 acres as developers were looking to expand the business, according to CBRE. Real estate consultant CBRE data showed that land deals of more than 2,200 acres last year as against about 1,900 acres in the preceding year. Out of the total land transactions in 2024, around 2,000 acres were located in the eight major cities -- Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
A study conducted by CBRS reveals there are abundant homes lying vacant in urban India.
The demand for flexible office space is emerging as India's top short-term portfolio strategy, as 47 per cent of companies want to increase its use over the next 12 months, according to a survey by property consultant CBRE. Flexible office space is a workspace designed to provide employees with a variety of different places and ways to work. These spaces can be easily modified to fit the needs of any new project or role.
Even as concerns grow over the residential real estate market reaching its peak, the outlook for office real estate remains strong, with listed real estate investment trusts (Reits) standing to benefit from sustained demand in the segment.
After Chennai, it is Coimbatore, Madurai, and Tiruchirappalli, that are emerging as manufacturing hubs. Coimbatore is India's top Tier-II city in terms of the number of GCCs, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.
Among the cities that have fully implemented their projects are Agra, Varanasi, Madurai, Coimbatore, Udaipur, Pune, Surat, and Vadodara
India's real estate market is poised for growth across categories - residential, commercial, and rental. Currently valued at Rs 24 trillion, or about $300 billion, it is projected to surge to $1.3 trillion by 2034, and then grow further to $5.17 trillion by 2047, indicates a report by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai).
'The Indian retail landscape is poised for a significant shift with the anticipated arrival of several prominent international luxury fashion brands in 2024.'
With the rise of ultra-luxury housing in India comes ultra-customised marketing. Developers selling high-end homes, priced above Rs 20 crore, are moving away from traditional marketing for these homes to newer methods, such as painstaking profiling of customers before showing them the property, augmented reality for visualisation of interior decor, virtual tours, and closed-door international shows. There is also marketing through online ads, social media influencers, and exclusive memberships.
High-end apartments, penthouses, and bungalows boasting amenities like swimming pools, expansive driveways, and premium interiors are becoming highly sought after.
India has been a tea sipping society. But the aromatic wave of coffee culture is wafting across it.
Enthused over relaxed FDI norms in construction, global real estate services major CB Richard Ellis on Friday said it was planning to expand its operations in the country.
Mumbai will lead the Indian office space supply with more than 25 per cent share, followed by Bangalore and Delhi with 19 and 17 per cent, respectively, in 2011-2012, a real estate services firm said.
This shift is driven by a pursuit of a superior lifestyle and an innate desire to be grounded in an owned plot of land. Villas, situated within gated housing societies, have gained popularity as a property type, witnessing strong traction due to elevated aspirations and the need for more living space.
The Indian office real estate market, which had recovered significantly in early 2022, began to slow down in the latter half due to macroeconomic problems in the developed world. Rental yields are likely to be stable at best in FY24.
While tenants can't escape the impact of rising rentals entirely, they can adopt a few strategies to reduce the impact.
Christmas is a perfect time for most NRIs to travel back to India and include property buying in their schedule. Ahmedabad, Kochi, Ludhiana and Chandigarh are some cities that witness generous investments from NRI investors.
However, Icra Rating Principal Economist Aditi Nayar feels that the numbers are a bit too optimistic and need real heavy-lifting by the Centre and the states. "The survey forecasts on real and nominal GDP will require a substantial push from Central and state spending as private sector capacity expansion is anticipated to be intermittent, and sector-specific in the next couple of quarters," she said. Nayar added that private consumption is likely to chart a differentiated recovery across income and age groups. Based on the comments made in the Survey, she expects the Union Budget to incorporate a growth in gross tax revenue of 15-16 per cent.
With the insistence on data centres to be onshore, entities in real estate believe there is going to be a rise in demand for specialised Grade-A commercial spaces to set these up.
Experts are looking at a timeframe of anything between 12 and 18 months from the time of the new government for concrete signs of revival.
Despite a 56 per cent fall in residential launches in the first half of the year compared to the second half of 2019, Anarock Property Consultants believes that consolidation in residential real estate is expected to gain ground, and that branded players may garner a market share of 75-80 per cent.
End users should take the plunge despite higher home loan rates as these tend to be cyclical.
Let's take a look at some of the most expensive prime office occupancy rates around the world.
Rentals of retail space in these seven cities showed a mixed trend, according to CBRE's 'India Retail Market View' report for H1 2014 on the status of organized retail real estate spaces in the country's leading cities.
American brands top the domestic retail space with 30 per cent share, especially in the food & beverages sapce, while the Italian and British labels dominate the luxury segment.
Anshuman Magazine of CBRE discusses effective leadership, millenials, Trump's America and his core business -- the real estate market -- with Nivedita Mookerji.
The Centre is considering relaxing some norms that led to the failure in attracting bids for assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) as they look to restart the auction for their non-core assets. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had listed six properties of BSNL and MTNL for sale through its new e-bidding portal, developed by state-run MSTC, but the auction failed to garner an adequate interest. DIPAM had asked government-appointed property consultants to identify issues in the bidding criteria for resolution.
The office space absorption in seven cities, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, rose 14 per cent during the July-September quarter compared with the year-ago period.
The first ever auction of non-core assets through the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management's (DIPAM) asset monetisation portal has failed to garner adequate response for land assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) that was expected to garner at least Rs 470 crore. The DIPAM has asked its property consultants to identify issues in the bidding criteria that can be resolved. In November 2021, the DIPAM had listed six properties of BSNL and MTNL for sale through its new e-bidding portal for asset monetisation portal developed by state-run MSTC.
Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex moved down from 18th to 19th position.
Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), which houses the offices of some of the biggest banks in the country, however, slipped to 26th position from the 16th position.