India's Real Estate Sector Sees Record-Breaking Institutional Investments of $10.4 Billion in 2025
In 2025, the real estate sector in India attracted institutional investments worth $10.4 billion through 77 deals, according to data analyzed by global property consultancy JLL. This was the highest-ever annual inflow into the sector, marking a robust 17 per cent increase over the $8.9 billion invested in 2024. The performance underscores the growing importance of India as an attractive destination for long-term investments in real assets.
Apart from direct deals, commitments on the platform level were recorded at $11.43 billion over a three-to-seven-year timeline. This commitment indicates that investors' faith in the Indian realty sector’s fundamentals is driven by long-term vision rather than short-term trading.
One of the key characteristics of 2025 was the level of investment in platforms, with close to $11 billion from just one digital infrastructure investment platform. A notable example is the joint venture between Reliance Industries and Brookfield Asset Management and Digital Realty Trust, doing business as Digital Connexion, to build data infrastructure in India. This deal highlights the relevance of data centers and the digital infrastructure sector as an integral asset class, driven by the exponential rise in cloud, AI, and other digital consumption patterns.
One of the most significant structural shifts in 2025 was the rise of domestic institutional investors, who accounted for 52 per cent of total real estate investments. This marked the first time since 2014 that domestic capital overtook foreign investors in terms of market share. According to Lata Pillai, Senior Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets at JLL India, this change reflects a deeper transformation rather than a cyclical trend. “The two-fold rise in core asset acquisitions shows investors are not just betting on India's story—they are building long-term wealth. Domestic capital leading the market for the first time since 2014 signals a structural transformation, not a cyclical trend.”
Two major factors contributed to this shift. REITs and InvITs deployed around $2.5 billion, accounting for 56 per cent of core asset acquisitions, while domestic private equity funds contributed nearly 30 per cent of domestic investments. Although the foreign investors’ share proportion went down, their absolute investments actually increased by 18 per cent year-over-year. Among the sources of foreign investments, the capital from the Americas contributed the most, growing from $1.6 billion in 2024 to $2.6 billion in 2025, an absolute annual growth of 63 per cent.
Equity investment remained the preferred vehicle of choice in the inflow of institutional capital, accounting for 83 per cent of the total investment in the real estate market in 2025. The confidence in the quality of assets, transparency of the regulatory regime, and return prospects of India’s real estate sectors are the principal reasons for this preference. Investors generally shifted their preference for ownership-led strategies to debt, especially in stabilized assets and scalable platforms that provide predictable income streams and capital appreciation.
After residential assets were the most attractive investment vehicle in 2024, the office sector returned to the top of the list in 2025, raking in close to $6 billion, or 58 per cent of total institutional inflows. Office investments were more than twice as high as the previous year, driven by strong leasing demand, the Global Capability Centre (GCC) expansion, and renewed corporate hiring. Almost 65 per cent of office investments went to solid, income-generating core assets, indicating the institutional preference for safer, annuity-style returns.
Dr. Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research and REIS at JLL India, noted the resurgence of offices, reflecting growing confidence in India’s commercial real estate ecosystem. “Office properties have reclaimed their position as the institutional capital magnet, attracting $6 billion through strategic investments that more than doubled from the previous year. Two-thirds of these investments were concentrated in prime core office assets.”
Alongside offices, emerging asset classes such as data centers, student housing, life sciences, and healthcare real estate gained traction, highlighting investors’ appetite for diversification and future-ready segments.
In the geographic segment, Bengaluru was the top destination, with a share of 29 per cent in the total institutional investments in 2025. This was due to the presence of a thriving tech market, office space absorption, and quality assets in the city. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) remained attractive to a large amount of capital due to its prime commercial property assets and corporate HQs. Tier-II cities lured approximately $175 million, symbolizing early nascent interest in places other than top cities.
The data from the 2025 investments indicates that the Indian real estate capital market is maturing and includes an increasingly local face, equity-focused approach, and a rising trend in alternative investments. The industry is moving towards a stable phase, characterized by large platform transactions and a strong revival in the office market. With sustained growth in the economy and continued development of capital markets in India, it is likely that the real estate industry will remain an attractive destination for both domestic and foreign institutions.
