The demand for real estate across all segments of the market, specifically office, residential, retail and hospitality is being fuelled by growing the business investment in India, not only due to FDI, but, local household consumption, government spending, as well as, an expanding middle class.
Currently, the real estate market in the country stands at $12-billion in revenue terms and may reach $50-billion by 2010. India's domestic real estate market, is amongst the high-yielding markets, globally, with yields from prime grade A office space at 9-12%, compared to 4-7% in the USA and Europe.
Over the past few years, real estate has emerged as an alternative investment option. However, until recently, participation in the realty sector was limited to direct investment in individual properties. The introduction of real estate venture capital (VC) funds has provided HNIs and institutional clients the opportunity to invest in portfolios of real estate assets via VC funds. These funds provide investors access to pan-India investment opportunities across realty sectors, and by partnering with developers, these funds invest in development opportunities.
Only recently, Sebi announced plans to introduce real estate mutual funds (REMFs) to enable retail participation. These funds are expected to be close-ended, listed instruments with minimum holding period of three years. But, with the requirement of daily reporting of NAV, these funds may have to restrict their exposure to income producing assets. Land valuation in India remains a challenge, which could make daily NAV reporting difficult. Another challenge the Indian real estate market faces is the normalisation of current differential rates of stamp duty, registration charges and property taxes across states.
Internationally, real estate instruments ranging from mutual funds (REMFs) to real estate investment trusts (REITs) seem to have a large play on a combination of property developers and income producing assets. REITs are focused on owning and operating income producing assets. Creation of REITs and RMEFs in India will not only improve transparency, but liquidity, as well in the realty market.
The opportunity to introduce REITs may become more attractive as the number of income producing assets increase. REITs are attractive additions to investment portfolios, because internationally, they have shown a relatively low correlation with stocks. They also provide benefits of liquidity being publicly-traded, REITs provide high dividend yields and have a strong likelihood of increasing in value, as REITs properties generate higher cash flows and additional properties get added to the portfolio.
Another alternative investment vehicle for investors seeking exposure to the real estate sector could be listed real estate development and hospitality companies. But, only a handful of these companies are listed. Several home building and hospitality companies have lined up their IPOs in future, which will boost the limited listed real estate sector. With the realty market tracking the India growth story, many interesting investment opportunities may emerge over the coming years. So, real estate will emerge as a credible and long-term investment opportunity for not just institutional investors or pension funds, but also for retail and individual investors.
Written by
Property Vertical
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