$9.5B or $1.42B? Why India Real Estate Investment Numbers Differ

If you read about India's real estate investment this week, you may have seen $9.5 billion in one headline and $1.42 billion in another, both for the July-September quarter. Neither is wrong. They measure different things.

The two numbers

• CBRE: a record $9.5 billion of equity capital into real estate, data centres and hospitality in Q3 2026, more than double the $4.4 billion a year earlier. Data centres were about 57% of the total and foreign investors about 59%

• Colliers: $1.42 billion of institutional investment in Q3, up 12% year on year, with domestic investors at 65% and hospitality the largest asset class at 25%

Why they differ

• Scope: CBRE's figure explicitly includes data centres, which made up roughly $5.4 billion by our arithmetic (57% of $9.5 billion). Colliers' breakdown lists asset classes such as hospitality, office, residential, alternatives, industrial and mixed-use

• Investor mix: CBRE reports foreign investors as the majority, while Colliers shows domestic investors leading

• Methodology: Each firm defines what counts as an institutional or equity deal differently

 

What both agree on

Capital is flowing in at healthy levels. Colliers' nine-month total of $5.93 billion is up 39%, and CBRE's quarterly record points to strong appetite for digital infrastructure.