India Maintains Top-10 Rank in Global Cross-Border Real Estate Investment

India has continued its dominance as one of the top-10 cross-border capital destinations for standing assets, according to a report from Colliers released on Wednesday. Overall, the Asia Pacific (APAC) region has asserted its robust growth on the global investment stage and played a key role in overall capital movements.

Colliers’ Global Capital Flows June 2025 report showed that India continued to feature prominently at the seventh place in the top 10 global cross-border capital destinations for land and development sites. The report noted that India is emerging as a key investment destination within APAC, driven by strong fundamentals, a maturing real estate market, and growing interest in land and development assets.

Favourable policy measures and continued infrastructure push are further enhancing the investment climate and reinforcing India's appeal to global and regional capital, the report said. Institutional investments in Indian real estate stood at a strong $1.3 billion in Q1 2025—up 31% YoY—underscoring the sector’s resilience and investor confidence.

Badal Yagnik, Chief Executive Officer at Colliers India, emphasized that global and regional capital continues to flow steadily into India, particularly in land and development assets, supported by a maturing market and diverse capital deployment opportunities. “Increasing global investor participation in the residential segment, along with a growing appetite for emerging segments such as life sciences and data centres, will further strengthen real estate investment in India,” Yagnik added.

At the same time, strong demand fundamentals, robust supply pipeline, and expanding avenues such as development platforms and alternative investment structures will continue to present compelling opportunities in commercial as well as industrial and warehousing segments, he added.

Vimal Nadar, national director and head of research at Colliers India, highlighted that foreign investors accounted for nearly 40% of the total institutional inflows during Q1 2025, which reaffirmed their long-term interest in Indian real estate. “While office assets remain a key focus for foreign investors, residential investments are gaining ground, driven by rising demand, healthy returns, and a positive domestic outlook. This diversification signals a maturing market where foreign capital is increasingly aligning with India’s evolving real estate landscape,” he added.

Looking ahead, Nadar expected that a 5.5% lending rate, the lowest in three years, would further boost investor sentiment and facilitate greater capital deployment across real estate asset classes, particularly the residential segment in the near to medium term.

According to the report, Asia Pacific remains the most attractive region for land and development sites, with seven of the top 10 markets—most of which maintained or improved upon their five-year average share of activity in Q1 this year. China and Singapore top the list, followed by Australia, Malaysia, and India in fifth to seventh position. Hong Kong and Japan came in at ninth and tenth position. China maintains market dominance, at 80% of all cross-border activity.

Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong among the top 10 sources of global capital in the first quarter, with Singapore in fourth position, Japan seventh, and Hong Kong tenth. Meanwhile, Japan and Australia ranked among the top 10 global cross-border capital destinations for standing assets.

At the same time, the office segment continues to be the most sought-after in Asia Pacific, followed by industrial and retail, despite multifamily being the top sector of choice globally.