Report: Private Equity investments in the real estate sector rose by 3%.

According to a report by Cushman & Wakefield India, private equity investments in the real estate sector rose by 3% in 2019 to Rs 43,704 crore, accounting for almost half the shares in investment flows for the office segment.

In 2019 the office segment received Rs 21,890 crore from institutional investors, which reflects a 50.1% share of the overall investment in 2019. Foreign investors accounted for a significant proportion of 72.9% of overall influxes of investment in 2019. The report states that equity capital allocation represented 80.5% of the total investment inflows in 2019, up from 64% in 2018.

Also, PE investment rose in retail and warehousing sectors last year. Investments in the retail sector increased by a multiple of 2.8X with estimated investments of Rs 5,500 crore in 2019.

“Strong demand for consumption and favourable demographics are major drivers of investment in both Tier-I & II cities in this asset class,” the report said.

In the 2019 annual investments, warehousing and logistics accounted for an 8.7% gain, with Rs 3,810 crore invested during the year. This segment is experiencing a major transformation as organized players enter and institutionalization is growing from being highly fragmented and unorganized in the past, the report said.

The absolute number of investment deals was lower by 17% YoY, leading to a rise in ticket size per deal during the year and a jump in large-sized transactions. Investments in the office segment controlled economic operation in 2019, as in the previous year.