Land, development sites propel real estate capital inflows up 48% to $3.8 bn in Q3 2025

The total equity investments in real estate jumped 48% year-over-year (Y-o-Y) to $3.8 billion during the July-September quarter (Q3 2025), compared to $2.6 billion in the year-ago period, according to commercial services and investment firm CBRE South Asia's ‘Market Monitor Q3 2025 – Investments’ report. The inflows were primarily fuelled by capital deployment into land or development sites and built-up office and retail assets. In the first nine months of 2025, the equity investments increased 14% Y-o-Y to $10.2 billion from $8.9 billion in the same period last year.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO - India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE, said that the healthy inflow of domestic capital demonstrates the sector’s resilience and depth. “India’s real estate sector is entering a phase of accelerated growth, driven by continued investor confidence. In the upcoming quarters, greenfield developments are likely to continue witnessing a robust momentum, with a healthy spread across residential, office, mixed-use, data centres, and I&L sectors,” he said.

The investment landscape is becoming more diversified, with capital deployment into both built-up and development assets, says Gaurav Kumar, Managing Director, Capital Markets and Land, CBRE India. "In addition to global institutional investors, Indian sponsors accounted for a significant part of the total inflows. India’s ability to combine strong domestic capital with global institutional participation will remain a key differentiator in 2026 and beyond."

Asset-wise, the growth was largely driven by sustained interest in land or development sites, along with robust activity in built-up asset acquisitions. Together with built-up office and retail assets, they accounted for more than 90% of the total capital inflows during Jul-Sep ‘25.

Among major cities, Mumbai attracted the highest investments, accounting for a share of 32%, followed by Pune (18%) and Bengaluru (16%). In the category of investors, developers remained the primary drivers of capital deployment, contributing 45% of the total equity inflows, followed by institutional investors with a 33% share.

In its outlook for 2025, CBRE says the investment activity in 2025 is expected to close on a strong note, primarily fuelled by capital deployment into built-up office and retail assets. Greenfield developments are also likely to continue witnessing robust momentum in the upcoming quarters across residential, mixed-use, data centres, and I&L sectors. For the office sector, the limited availability of investible core assets for acquisition indicates that opportunistic bets are likely to continue gaining traction.