India 20th in world’s realty market; way behind No 1 China

India ranks 20th in the world's top real estate investment markets, with investment volume of $3.4 billion in 2012, according to a study released by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield on Monday.

China was in the top position with a realty investment of $304.1 billion – almost 100 times that of India - followed by the US ($267.1 billion) and the UK ($56.3 billion).

Notwithstanding the current downturn in India, the report said investment volumes rallied in the fourth quarter, signalling a return of confidence in the market, which could see volumes this year increase 14 per cent to exceed the $1 trillion mark for the first time since 2007.

The realty consultant said the global property investment market grew 6 per cent in 2012 to $929 billion and was expected to cross $1 trillion mark in 2013, the first time since 2007.

Most of the investment in India was through institutional sales (67 per cent), while the rest was through private equity investments (33 per cent).

Investments in institutional sales in India saw a decline of 37 per cent over the previous year, but private equity investment rose 7 per cent in 2012 to Rs6,200 crore.

Bangalore saw the highest number and value of private equity investments at Rs3,250 crore, posting more than double the investment over the previous year, followed by Mumbai with Rs1,300 crore and the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) with Rs700 crore investments.

The report says that the global property investment market recorded a modest 6 per cent rise in activity during 2012 with volumes of $929 billion.