Land deals on the rise in India

When it comes to the country's realty space, a lot of actions are happening on the ground. India's top eight cities have seen 68 land deals for more than 1,656 acre in the first nine months of 2022. This is significantly higher than the figures of nine months of 2021. In the Jan-Sept period of 2021, India had seen closure of just 20 land deals for over 925 acre across these cities. In terms of number of deals struck, residential developments are on top of the table. However, in terms of overall size of the land parcel, 'undecided mixed developments' are on the top.

Going by a recent study by Anarock Research, of the total land deals in 2022 (Jan-Sept.), as many as 40 deals over 590 acres proposed for residential development, 147 acres for industrial and logistic park and warehouse, 119 acres for data centres, 115 for mixed-use development and 26 acres for commercial, among others. Around 26 acres in four separate deals are for commercial development, while nearly 11 deals for over 659 acres are for miscellaneous purposes including retail and BPO and development; development purpose for a large portion of these deals is 'undecided.'

The single most important takeaway of this study is that 'Land', the most precious finite resource amid rapid urbanization, has been seeing increased action after the pandemic. This is notwithstanding the fact that with some of the larger deals, there is still ambiguity about the type of development that will take place there. For most other deals, developers and entities have already zeroed in on development purposes.

In terms of land area transacted, Hyderabad has seen the biggest land transactions so far this year, and in terms of total number of land deals, MMR clocked the highest number of deals, while the total area transacted was unspectacular, one must also consider the steep prices in this land-starved city.

When it comes to city-wise break-up of these land transactions, Hyderabad saw seven separate deals for more than 769 acres, accounting for over 46 per cent of the total land transacted between Jan-Sept.

NCR sealed 16 separate transactions accounting for 14 per cent of the total land deals covering nearly 234 acres. This includes nine deals for a total of 197 acres in Gurugram, and seven in Delhi, Faridabad, and Noida. The proposed developments include residential, retail, mixed-use, commercial, and warehousing.

Bengaluru saw nine separate deals for a total of 223 acres earmarked for residential, mixed-use, and a logistics park, Pune saw eight separate deals for approx. 124 acres, accounting for seven per cent of the total land area transacted across these cities (All are proposed for residential development), MMR saw the highest number of transactions cumulatively accounting for just 199 acres, earmarked for residential and logistics developments, Chennai saw seven deals for 92+ acres for a mixed-use development including residential, BPO and an industrial park, Ahmedabad closed three deals for nearly 9.6 acres and Kolkata, on its parts, closed one land deal for nearly 5.6 acres.