The real estate investment market in India is set to see significant structural growth, with SEBI signalling a new regulatory effort to expand the participation of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).
SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch recently highlighted that the regulator is working towards expanding the fund's liquid pool to include InvITs and REITs -- a move that is expected to expand the market and aid in the rapid development of India's alternative real estate investing system.
Experts from the industry believe this move will increase institutional participation, boost price discovery, and provide more transparency to yields in the commercial real property market.
HNIs Allocate 30-35%, but Retail Investors Should Stay Measured
As per Mananki Parulekar, Co-Founder of Claravest Technologies, India's wealthy families are exposed to real property.
"HNIs and UHNIs devote around 30 to 35 percent of their assets towards real estate," She says, according to the Knight Frank Wealth Report 2024. The higher percentage is driven by their ability to negotiate agreements, global diversification by overseas properties, and the capability to invest in high-value investment opportunities.
But Parulekar stresses that retail investors need to take a more balanced approach.
"For the majority of retail portfolios, 10-20% exposure to real estate is a good starting place. Investors can increase this to 10 to 15% based on the quality of the asset, its place of residence, and the future growth potential," she says.
Read More: India’s REIT market to reach ₹19.7 trillion by 2030: Knight Frank
Real Estate Should Be a Satellite Allocation, Not the Core
Abhishek Khudania, who is Executive Director of Wealth and Investments at Client Associates, echoes the belief that real estate should be used as a complement rather than being the main investment option.
He says that a rising portion of this distribution will be made up of REITs or other professionally managed investment structures. Their benefits--predictable income, lower entry thresholds, institutional-grade assets, and liquidity--make them more suitable for most investors than direct ownership of physical assets, which often require high capital and involve lower liquidity.
Although physical residences continue to provide emotional and lifestyle worth in Indian householders, professionals warn that it shouldn't dominate the financial portfolio of an investor solely to earn the investment return.
Real Estate Financialisation Accelerates
With SEBI striving to include indexes in its portfolio and extending the exposure of mutual funds to InvITs and REITs, analysts believe that India is about to enter a new era of real estate finance.
They are helping bridge the gap between family savings and the national infrastructure requirements, providing professional, reliable, and income-generating managed options that didn't exist for investors in retail 10 years earlier.
As support for regulatory reform grows and awareness of investors grows, the real estate market is expected to remain a crucial part of long-term portfolios' satellite allocations. Experts agree that a balance in your portfolio can increase yield, enhance diversification, and ensure security during times of market fluctuations.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com



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