Mumbai’s institutional investment story in real estate has come full circle, returning to pre-pandemic levels and crossing the $1 billion mark for the fourth year in a row as it hit $1.2 billion in the first nine months of 2025, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s India Capital Markets Q3 2025 report.
At the national level, institutional investment inflows (across private equity and REITs) reached $4.7 billion year-to-date, and the sector seems poised to close the year with around $6–6.5 billion. This will make 2025 potentially the second-best year on record for institutional investments in commercial real estate.
Domestic institutional participation has grown significantly over the past few years, accounting for 48% of inflows between January and September, up from a smaller share previously. Foreign investors contributed the remaining 52%. This shift has helped offset volatility in cross-border capital flows and strengthened the market’s stability, according to the report.
For institutional investors, office assets remain the dominant choice for investors, accounting for 35% of YTD inflows, followed by residential (26%), retail (12%), and logistics & industrial (9%).
Even amid global uncertainty, institutional capital has found stability in India’s economic fundamentals, domestic demand, and governance frameworks, says Somy Thomas, Executive Managing Director, Capital Markets. “The growing participation of domestic investors, who now contribute the majority share of quarterly inflows, underscores the market’s maturity and confidence in India’s long-term growth story,” said Thomas.
Investment in the real estate sector in the south also remains very strong, says Vivek K. Chandy, Joint Managing Partner at JSA Advocates & Solicitors. “Bangalore developers have not just moved to the growing and large cities in the south, but have started huge developments in Mumbai and the NCR. While the equity markets provided huge returns following the pandemic, over the last year, the bigger returns have probably been from investments in real estate.”