India's real estate market across its Tier 1 cities has climbed five positions to rank 26th globally in the JLL Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) 2026, making it one of the top five most-improved markets globally and the number one improver in Asia-Pacific. According to JLL, this improvement from 31st position puts India in the middle of the "Transparent" tier, with the United Kingdom topping the list as the most transparent market, followed by France, Australia, the United States and the Netherlands. As per JLL India CEO Radha Dhir, "India did not just improve this year in JLL's Global Real Estate Transparency Index 2026; it set the pace for Asia Pacific. Moving from 31st to 26th globally and ranking among the top five most-improved markets worldwide reflects a market that is compounding gains, not chasing a single good year." The country's move from 31st to 26th reflected sustained gains rather than a single-year improvement, with India recording the fourth-largest improvement globally over 10 years and the third-largest over 20 years, according to JLL's assessment. Dhir noted that "Our steady progress - fourth-best globally over 10 years and third-best over 20 years - positions India to enter the ‘Highly Transparent’ tier as we advance toward aligning with the world's most transparent markets."
The improvement in transparency has coincided with strong investment activity in Indian real estate. Private equity investment reached $10.5 billion in 2025, up 17 per cent year-on-year, and stood at $4.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up 25 per cent year-on-year, as reported by JLL. Lata Pillai, senior managing director and head of capital markets, India, JLL, noted that the direct investment was a 20-year high, with private equity flows already up 17 per cent year-on-year. According to the latest data, direct investments struck a 20-year high of $8.1 billion over the last 12 months, demonstrating sustained investor confidence in the market. Institutional investment reached a record $10.5 billion across 78 transactions in 2025, while the firm's data showed investment in the first half of 2026 reached $4.4 billion, up 25 per cent from a year earlier. JLL believes that greater transparency could help attract more institutional capital into Indian real estate, with highly transparent markets continuing to account for about 80% of global direct investment.
India's office real estate investment trust (REIT) market has experienced significant expansion, with REIT stock growing 58 per cent from 104 million square feet (msf) in 2024 to 164 msf in 2026. According to JLL, close to half of India's grade A office stock is now REIT-worthy, with assets considered suitable for REIT structures accounting for about 46 per cent of Grade A office inventory. The growing use of the BSE Realty Index and India REIT Index, alongside regular financial reporting and disclosure requirements for REITs and listed flexible-office operators, has improved the availability of information on income-producing real estate. The listed real estate market also recorded incremental gains, with India's global position improving to 35th from 36th, according to the report. The BSE Realty Index and India REIT Index have become essential benchmarks for investors, while quarterly financial reporting and annual disclosure standards have solidified across REITs and publicly traded flexible space operators, broadening transparency across the sector.
India recorded the strongest improvement in the regulatory and legal parameter, climbing from 37th to 19th globally and from ninth to sixth in Asia-Pacific. As reported by JLL, this improvement was attributed to the maturation of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalisation and the implementation of digitised land registries, including the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM), NAKSHA and the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP). India maintained its position in the transaction-process parameter, ranking 10th globally and third in Asia-Pacific. The improvement was supported by greater availability of data on commercial real estate financing, along with improvements in land-use planning and digital land records. The sweeping regulatory and legal reforms in the sector were the major reason for this improvement, compounded by now-mature RERA framework and digital land registries.
India's data centre sector is positioned for massive expansion, with data centre capacity projected to grow from 1.6 GW to 6 GW by 2029, requiring USD 110 billion investment. Global hyperscalers have already committed over USD 50 billion toward AI-ready facilities, indicating strong international confidence in India's digital infrastructure capabilities. The data centre market had 1,637 MW of inventory by mid-2026, with 2.8% vacancy, 100 MW of absorption and 84.9 MW of completions, while a further 4,317 MW was under construction and the planned pipeline stood at 15,000 MW. JLL expects India's data centre capacity to expand from 1.6 GW to 6 GW by 2029, requiring around $110 billion of investment. Global hyperscalers have committed more than $50 billion towards AI-ready facilities, while self-build projects account for nearly 30% of new capacity. The report also highlights the evolution of India's regulatory framework for the sector, covering data protection, investment policy and energy infrastructure.
India's global sustainability ranking improved to 27th from 29th, while its Asia-Pacific ranking remained unchanged at seventh. The improvement was supported by sustainability reporting requirements, including SEBI's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) framework for the top 1,000 listed companies, as well as the National Green Building Mission launched in 2025. Green-certified Grade A office stock penetration increased sharply from roughly 39 per cent in 2020 to 66 per cent in the first half of 2026, with certified buildings commanding a 10-15 per cent rental premium over non-certified buildings after adjusting for property type, location and age cohort. However, JLL identified continuing gaps around Scope 3 reporting, property-level energy disclosures, climate-risk reporting, resilience planning and biodiversity-related disclosures. The report identifies four key areas for further progress: deeper performance disclosures across asset classes and fund structures, better credit-market intelligence, verified real-time building-performance data and greater use of AI to streamline due diligence and bring fragmented information together.
