PE investments going strong in real estate, shows CII-JLL report

Mumbai, July 27: Private equity(PE)investmentsinrealestate continue to be strong for thesecondyearinarow.In2015, the sector attracted the highest investments since 2008, and if the run-rate seen in the first half of 2016 is something to go by, the investments could well surpass the record of 2015.

According to the latest report released by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and JLL India, private equity investments in the first half of 2016inresidential,officeandretail combined stood at R11,400 crore, while in the full year of 2015, the three asset classes attractedatotalof R12,000croreof investments. In 2014, the sector that investors are looking to become project partners and pointstowardstheirstrongpositive sentiments for commercial assets,” says the report. Interestingly, what has also come to fore is that after a couple of years of absolute lull, there are clear signs of latent interest in retail assets. The retail sector wasanoft-neglectedone,barely registering any investment activity of note. This asset class had good performing assets, albeit in limited quantity, as the sector has largely been plagued by under-performing and subaverage assets.

But now, with yields at almost8%inofficeassets,thereis renewed interest in retail malls. The trend has also been augmented by a number of foreign