India's Office Space Grows In 2020 With Deals Worth USD 3.1 Billion: Report

MUMBAI: The office space segment in India witnessed significant growth in 2020 with deals worth over $3.1 billion, according to a JLL report.

The report, titled 'India Real Estate Outlook - A Growth Cycle', said that what appeared to be a short term pull back from institutional investments in Indian real estate in the first three quarters of 2020, came back with bang in the last quarter with large deals.

While most investors remained cautious as asset pricing and revenue stability became challenging, large portfolio deals during the last quarter led to total investments of over $5 billion during 2020.

The total value of deals in 2019 stood at $5.43 billion compared to $5.03 bn in 2020.

"The office space with a total deal valuation at $3,102 mn (3.1 bn) leads the pack among asset classes in real estate. The primary markets witnessed a strong response to listed REITs, providing a new avenue for retail and institutional investors," it said.

As per the report, the REITs market has been the biggest catalyst to keep investment momentum up. Foreign investors looking for stable yield and regular returns, have been able to see the benefits of a good sponsor quality, track record, transparency and delivering predictable returns in the REITs market.

Landlords owning income yielding core office assets have been forming strategies to list their assets through REITs. Listing of new REITs is expected to provide opportunities for institutional investors to build asset portfolios or co-invest with existing platforms before the IPO, it said.

"India's emerging REITs market is expected to attract cross border flows and further improve transparency and asset pricing leading to more mature markets. This loop of increasing maturity and capital flows will lead to investments scaling new peaks," said Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research, JLL India.

"Office market is on its road to recovery as it is likely to witness an increased number of new completions of close to 38 mn square feet, while net absorption is likely to hover around 30 mn square feet," he added.