India Emerges As Key Destination For Global Institutional Investors: Cushman & Wakefield Executives

As global real estate markets prepare for a volatile 2025, institutional investors are increasingly turning to India as a stable and promising market for capital deployment, according to Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) executives.

Nathaniel Robinson, Chief Investment and Strategy Officer, and Matthew Bouw, CEO of Asia Pacific, shared their insights during an interview with Economic Times.

India’s Real Estate Remains Resilient Amid Global Challenges

Robinson and Bouw acknowledged the potential hurdles in the global market, such as macroeconomic uncertainty, concerns over tariff wars, and inflationary pressures, which may slow down the recovery of global real estate.

However, they emphasized that India’s strong fundamentals continue to make it an attractive long-term investment destination.

“We expect 2025 to be somewhat choppy due to potential tariff wars. However, once these issues are resolved, we anticipate strong growth heading into 2026,” Robinson stated.

Rising Investor Confidence In India

Investor sentiment towards India’s real estate sector has significantly improved over the past few years. Bouw noted a substantial increase in the number of institutional investors viewing India as a key market.

At a recent conference in Singapore, he revealed that one in three investors highlighted India as a key deployment market, up from one in five a few years ago.

India’s real estate sector attracted $7.1 billion in institutional investments in 2024, marking a 31% increase from the previous year.

India’s Strong Real Estate Fundamentals

Bouw underscored that India’s real estate market remains one of the most attractive globally, citing its young, urbanizing population, growing middle class, high GDP growth, and political stability as key factors driving long-term investment.

“The fundamentals of the Indian real estate market are probably the best in the world,” Bouw said, highlighting the country’s demographic and economic strengths.

Institutional Investors Focus On Long-Term Strategies

While global capital markets face temporary pauses in investment decisions, institutional investors remain focused on their long-term strategies, according to Robinson.

He noted that although investors might pause and restart capital allocation based on economic conditions, their overall investment theses typically do not change in the short term.

“Most investors have a long-term thesis, and those don’t change much. What we see is a pausing and restarting of capital allocation depending on economic conditions,” Robinson explained.

Despite global challenges, India’s real estate market continues to stand out as a beacon of stability and growth. India’s strong economic fundamentals and positive investment outlook position it as a top destination for institutional capital in the years to come.

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