India requires an additional 2.6 billion sq. ft of healthcare real estate by 2035, says report

India will need an additional 2.6 billion sq. ft of healthcare real estate by 2035, driven by the need for nearly 2.9 million additional hospital beds, says a report.

India currently has approximately 1.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people, significantly below the global average of 3.3 per 1,000. To close this capacity gap, the country’s total healthcare real estate footprint would need to expand substantially from an estimated 2.1 billion sq. ft in 2025 to align with the current global healthcare infrastructure benchmark, according to CBRE South Asia’s report titled “Beyond Core: A 2035 View of India’s Alternate Sectors - Part I”. CBRE is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Dallas and is one of the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firms and a premier provider of critical infrastructure services.

The report’s analysis of non-communicable disease (NCD) prevalence and hospital bed density highlights significant disparities in healthcare infrastructure across states. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand have low hospital bed density relative to their disease burden, suggesting unmet demand for secondary and tertiary healthcare services. Meanwhile, states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana have relatively stronger healthcare infrastructure and higher household incomes, supporting further expansion of specialised healthcare facilities and medical ecosystems.

“Healthcare is emerging as one of India’s most consequential real estate opportunities, not simply because demand for care is increasing, but because the country needs a far deeper and more distributed physical healthcare network,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE.

The report identifies a shift in healthcare investment and expansion strategies, with growing interest in single-speciality hospitals, day-care and outpatient facilities, and acquisition-led expansion. Given the highly competitive landscape in certain cities, operators are increasingly evaluating existing hospitals to enter established markets faster, leveraging operational infrastructure, licences and patient networks.

Although nascent, medical office buildings can also be developed in the country, housing single or multiple healthcare tenants such as diagnostics, rehabilitation, child development, IVF, eye-care, dental and wellness providers. These assets allow multiple services to be co-located within one development, improving patient convenience while strengthening asset utilisation.

“India’s healthcare infrastructure requirement cannot be addressed through a uniform development model,” said Rami Kaushal, Managing Director, Consulting and Valuation Services, India, Middle East and Africa, CBRE. “The current landscape creates scope for a diversified development pipeline, ranging from large integrated healthcare campuses and multi- and single-speciality hospitals to medical office buildings, diagnostics and day-care facilities. In addition to top cities, Tier II and Tier III locations are particularly important in this context, where lower land costs and the availability of larger parcels can support cost-efficient, purpose-built healthcare developments.”