India logs record land deals in H1 2025, surpassing full-year 2024 volumes by 15%

India's land market is booming. In the first half of 2025, a record 2,898 acres were transacted across 76 deals, according to ANAROCK’s latest report Land as Capital. The buying spree, led by listed developers and institutional players, spanned residential, commercial, retail, industrial, and warehousing segments, defying broader economic uncertainty and geopolitical headwinds. The total volume of land transacted so far in 2025 is already 1.15 times the deals volume seen in the whole of 2024, which saw about 133 deals for 2,515 acres concluded.

The total value of the land transacted in H1 2025 was ₹30,885 crore, with a revenue potential of around ₹1.47 lakh crore and a total development potential of over 233 Mn sq. ft. The report further highlights that of the total land deals closed in H1 2025, over 67 for around 991 acres took place in the top 7 cities alone. The remaining 9 deals for 1,907+ acres were in Tier 2 and 3 cities like Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Coimbatore, Indore, Mysuru, and Panipat.

Among the top 7 cities, land-scarce MMR saw the most action, with 24 land deals for over 433 acres, followed by Bengaluru with 15 land deals for 182 acres, and Pune with 13 deals for over 214 acres.

With India’s land deals soaring, is this land rush driven by actual project pipelines or speculative FOMO (fear of missing out) among large players? "The current land surge is largely pipeline-led, not speculative. Developers today are far more conscious of IRR, time-to-market, and capital rotation. In NCR especially, paid-for land in infrastructure-led zones is finite and fiercely contested. At BPTP, we’re acquiring where we already have execution muscle and consumer insight. That’s not FOMO—it’s disciplined foresight,” Manik Malik, CEO, BPTP, tells Fortune India.

Of the total land deals in H1 2025:

• At least 54 separate deals for over 1,200 acres are proposed for residential developments - apartments, villas, plotted development & township projects.

The emergence of Tier II/III cities as significant contributors to the national land transaction ecosystem is also noteworthy. "These markets, once considered peripheral to mainstream real estate activity, now represent an inalienable component of the Indian real estate growth horizon," says Saksena.

Aman Sharma, Founder and Managing Director, Aarize Group, said that the unprecedented surge in land acquisitions in H1 2025 signals a pivotal moment for Indian real estate. "With residential, logistics, and mixed-use segments driving demand, clarity of intent becomes crucial. Strategic acquisition must go hand-in-hand with timely execution. Otherwise, we risk distorting land values and delaying delivery to end-users. In a market as dynamic as India’s, sustainable growth will hinge not on how much land is acquired, but on how effectively it's developed to meet real needs."

Sudeep Bhatt, Director – Strategy at NCR-based Whiteland says it reflects deep-rooted confidence in India’s real estate fundamentals, especially in high-opportunity regions like Delhi-NCR. "With landmark infrastructure developments such as the Dwarka Expressway, Metro expansion and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor transforming the region, Delhi-NCR is rapidly emerging as a global investment hotspot," says Bhatt.

Notably, between 2021 and 2024, NCR witnessed the highest number of land deals (92) in the country, as well as the largest value of land transactions around ₹26,100 crore. MMR saw the highest-valued land transaction of ₹5,200 crore in 2023, and the largest size of land transactions with 1,745 acres. Hyderabad saw one of the largest land transactions of 600 acres in this period. The report says the increasing prevalence of joint development agreements, with a 150% year-on-year growth in 2024, also reflects the industry’s strategic evolution toward collaborative risk management and capital optimisation.