Indian real estate has witnessed 93% drop in private equity investments and institutional capital flows in the first five months of 2020 owing to the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on Indian economy and investor sentiments. The institutional inflow into the sector declined to $238 million, with only 5 deals concluded in 2020 until May end. The sector had recorded 25 deals in the corresponding period, while the entire 2019 had seen a total 49 deals worth $6.5 billion, showed data from Knight Frank India. Moreover, challenges such as recall of capital by sovereign wealth and pension funds to offer bailout in their home countries and the emergence of attractive opportunities in the developed economies on account of drop in valuations due to recession would cast its shadow on the private equity investments in Indian real estate in 2020. While investment attractiveness of segments like offices, residential and retail are expected to face challenges of work-from-home, pay cuts and job losses; warehousing is expected to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 crisis globally and expect it to outperform other asset classes in real estate in the near term.

(Economic Times)