India's leading real estate developers are accelerating their push into plotted development, a segment once dominated by unorganised players but now reshaped by branded offerings, faster cash flows and evolving buyer preferences. This strategic shift is visible across markets such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurugram, peripheries of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and even Tier-II cities.
Platform-style partnerships between global investors and Indian developers are expected to gain further traction over the next few years. This comes as institutional capital increasingly shifts from one-off asset acquisitions to scalable, long-term strategies.
India's leading conglomerates are stepping up investments in real estate, recasting what was once a peripheral activity into a core growth driver. Supported by strong balance sheets, established brands and access to long-term capital, major business houses including Aditya Birla, Tata, Godrej, L&T, Raymond, Wadia, Shapoorji Pallonji, Mahindra and Adani are positioning realty as a strategic pillar within their diversified portfolios.
Gurugram, already established as the corporate hub of Delhi-NCR, is increasingly attracting developers from outside the region, drawn by robust end-user demand, premium pricing, and emerging development opportunities.
Mahindra and SCM Real Estate, the investment arm of Standard Chartered, would together invest Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in multiple projects and hold equal stakes in the JV to be called Watsonia Developers.
While demand for sub Rs 50-lakh affordable housing prevails, market players cite increased land rates, escalated construction costs and low margins as key prohibiting factors.
Interest in green living is rising, with clean air and open spaces becoming key selling points for residential projects, particularly as Indian cities struggle with deteriorating air quality.
At least 2,900 acres of land deals, with a market value of Rs 31,000 crore, were transacted in the Indian realty market during the first six months of 2025 (H1 2025), according to a report by real estate analytics firm Anarock. These deals include both outright transactions as well as joint development agreements between realtors and landowners.
15 to 25 per cent of property registrations in Mumbai come from redevelopment, with over 3,500 projects approved by May 2024.
In the wake of boost from the Budget & RBI move on affordable housing, Tata Housing & Mahindra Lifespace, among others, plan new launches.
Home purchase affordability has improved in the first half of calendar year (CY) 2025, after the RBI reduced the repo rate by 100 basis points (bps), according to real estate consultancy Knight Frank India.
The net debt of top eight realty firms fell 43 per cent to Rs 23,000 crore last fiscal, from around Rs 40,000 crore in 2019-20, as their cash flow improved on strong housing sales, according to Anarock. Real estate consultant Anarock noted that the unfettered demand for housing across the country has enabled the country's leading large and listed developers to reduce their debt. Anarock analysed financial performances of the top eight developers engaged in the development of residential real estate.
Registration of housing properties in the Mumbai municipal region increased 35 per cent year-on-year to 7,556 units during this month on rising demand, according to Knight Frank. The registrations for September 2021 were 87 per cent higher compared to the pre-pandemic period of September 2019. "Mumbai BMC region (Churchgate to Dahisar and Colaba to Mulund) recorded its best September month performance. Recording 35 per cent YoY growth in property registrations in September 2021, 7,556 units is a 10-year best performance in the month of September," Knight Frank said in a statement.
Through the newly created business vertical Happinest, MLDL will launch two such housing projects in Boisar near Mumbai and Avadi in Chennai.
Slump in realty market to add to woes, debt of top players likely to rise 15-20% this financial year
Home prices across the top six cities are set to jump 6-10 per cent this fiscal and 3-5 per cent in the next financial year because of a steep rise in raw material, labour and land costs, and relatively favourable demand-supply dynamics, a report said on Thursday. The report by Crisil also said large residential realtors are on course to log a robust 25 per cent sales growth in 2022-23 and 10-15 per cent in the next fiscal. The unsold inventory level is down to 2.5 years from four years pre-pandemic, and this has credit profile of the large realtors strengthening, the report said.
In the 2017 budget, the government accorded infrastructure status for affordable projects to help such projects raise loans at lower rates
The national real estate market presents an intriguing picture. Lower volumes and flat pricing serve as dampeners. Sales bookings across the top ten markets have seen 6 per cent growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y) between April and August 2024, but sales volume is down 8 per cent Y-o-Y. Unsold inventory is up.
The recent blip in housing sales on a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) basis should not worry investors as the long-term prospects of real estate stocks remain on a strong foundation, according to analysts. In the first half of the calendar year 2024 (H1CY24), realty stocks surged up to 104 per cent. This sharp run should be used to book partial profit in related stocks, suggested Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
The BSE Realty index on Monday soared 4.3 per cent-most among the 19-sectoral sub-indices-buoyed by the proposal to formalise fractional ownership of real estate in the country. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday issued a discussion paper proposing to regulate online platforms offering fractional ownership in real estate, a model already popular in countries such as the United States and UAE.
The 'Diwali Home Buying Fest' would be organised from Nov 3-9.
The S&P BSE Realty Index has emerged as one of the top-performing sectors, yielding a remarkable 45 per cent return over the past six months. The three leading players, listed by market capitalisation, have substantially enriched investor wealth by 43-70 per cent during this period. If the second quarter (Q2) of 2023-24 (FY24) updates from Macrotech Developers (Lodha) and Sobha, along with industry data for the quarter, serve as any indication, the trend of strong bookings for larger players is expected to continue.
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Chairman Anand Mahindra spoke to Business Standard on affordable housing.
Dilipkumar Lakhi, a prominent diamond merchant and Mumbai's highest individual tax payer till a couple of years ago, has beaten some of the city's top developers to emerge the highest bidder for the iconic Cadbury House.
Sensex was up 184 points at 25,580 and the Nifty added 71 points to end the day at 7,654
All sectoral indices, led by realty, PSU, oil & gas and banking, were in positive zone with gains of up to 1.25 per cent.
Bigger companies are signing equity JVs with global investors.
The government's vision of "housing for all by 2022" may turn out to be an uphill task with developers keeping off low-cost housing projects citing regulatory hurdles, high land cost and low returns making such projects "unaffordable".
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