The real estate sector saw an upsurge in investment activity in the April-June quarter of 2026 as evidenced by 39 deals in the region valued at $2.3 billion, according to Grant Thornton Bharat’s latest Real Estate/REITs Dealtracker report. Deal volume rose 18% quarter-on-quarter and the total value of transactions almost tripled from the previous quarter – the strongest four quarterly performance in over 12 months.
The increase was primarily due to private equity (PE) investments and mergers & acquisitions (M&A). M&A accounted for 56% of all transactions, while PE investments made up 34%. Nearly half of the total deal value came from private equity as the investor’s confidence is reflected in IPOs and Qualified Institutional Placements (QIPs) which accounted for 5% respectively by volume.
One of the highlights in the quarter was the shift towards commercial scenario, comprising of office and income-generating property, rather than residential projects. Excluding IPOs and QIPs, the sector recorded 35 M&A and PE deals worth $1.5 billion, with commercial properties attracting the majority of institutional capital due to their stable rental income and long-term returns.
What does this imply for investors and home buyers?
There is no short-term forecast on a rise or fall in residential property prices in the report. Rather, it demonstrates that today commercial properties are more favored than residential properties by a group of large institutions. For individual investors, this highlights continued confidence in India’s real estate market, particularly in commercial properties and REIT-backed assets, while residential demand will likely continue to be driven by end-users rather than institutional funding.
