Chennai: The year 2020 closed with USD 5 billion investments, equivalent to 93 per cent of 2019 transactions, despite a sudden halt brought on by the pandemic, according to JLL’s ‘Capital Markets Update: Q4 2020’ report.

A press release said, the two major deals in 2020 – the Blackstone Group taking over of 21 million square feet of completed and under construction office, retail and hospitality assets from Prestige Estate Ltd. for estimated USD 1.2 billion and the Brookfield Group’s entering into an agreement with RMZ Developers to acquire around 12.5 million square feet of office and co-working assets for around USD 2 billion indicate that office assets account for a major share of the portfolio deals..

“India’s office sector has witnessed continuous growth over the last four years with the average annual net absorption crossing 30 million square feet, leading to steady rentals and capital appreciation till the onset of the pandemic,” said Dr Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS (India), JLL.

The Indian economy is hence expected to bounce back and grow by 8.8 per cent during the calendar year 2021. As for 2021, investment outlook to remain optimistic over the year.

Logistics and data centres to attract a new set of investors, and platform deals in the logistics sector likely to remain active as the segment benefitted from growing e-commerce demand as well as pandemic induced demand for cold storage facilities from the pharma sector. Recovery in the residential segment and changes in FDI regulation could ignite investment appetite for mid and affordable housing projects.