India’s real estate sector, currently valued around $320 billion, is projected to grow to $1 trillion by 2030, driven by residential, commercial, and emerging formats like co-living, senior housing, and rental assets, says Shekhar G Patel, President, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI).
In an exclusive interview with Moneycontrol on June 13, Patel said that the country’s real estate sector is standing at the cusp of a defining transformation as India recently overtook Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy. He believes this milestone signals not just macroeconomic strength but also immense opportunities for sectors like real estate.
Patel was, in April 2025, appointed as the president of CREDAI.
He said that the real estate market, which has shown signs of consolidation, is likely to bounce back strongly by July-August 2025, and he remains optimistic about the sector's long-term growth.
Edited excerpts:
The Indian real estate market has shown resilience despite global headwinds. What are your projections for the overall growth of the residential and commercial segments in FY26 and beyond?
India’s real estate sector is poised to grow from $320 billion to $1 trillion by 2030, contributing 13-15 percent to the GDP, driven by all key segments, including co-living, co-working, and senior living. The commercial real estate sector is seeing sustained momentum due to the growth in India’s service sector, which contributes over 55 percent to the GDP. REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) and SMREITs (Small and Medium REITs) are expected to further bolster this segment.
While luxury homes are seeing periodic fluctuations, affordable and mid-segment housing remain long-term growth drivers, especially if pricing policy reforms are implemented. In 2012, the sector contributed just 1.8 percent to 2 percent to India’s GDP. Today, it stands at 8.4 percent, and we expect it to exceed 10 percent by 2030. This growth aligns with India's ambition to become a $30 trillion economy by 2047.
As the newly appointed National President of CREDAI, what will be your key immediate priorities for the Indian real estate sector?
We have outlined a five-point agenda to drive the sector forward over the next five years. They are skilling of workforce, sustainability and reforestation, push for affordable housing, digitisation and data analytics and ease-of-doing-business.
Since the construction sector is one of the largest job creators in India, CREDAI will scale up skilling efforts by training 1 lakh workers annually through a structured, 10-day certified on-site programme. Recognising the need for climate-resilient infrastructure, CREDAI is championing reforestation efforts in ecologically sensitive zones, like the Western Ghats and Aravalli Hills. Simultaneously, it is developing its own green building certification framework to incentivise eco-friendly construction across member-projects.
The current definition of affordable housing was decided in 2017 and caps prices at Rs 45 lakh. However, due to inflation and rising input costs, this cap is outdated. Today, even a 90 square metre home costs Rs 70–Rs 80 lakh in many cities, which excludes it from the affordable category. We are urging the government to revise the definition, remove price caps, and focus on area-based criteria.
Additionally, we propose credit guarantee schemes for homebuyers, similar to MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), to encourage affordable homeownership.
On the ease-of-doing-business front, in collaboration with urban local bodies and the government, CREDAI is advocating a 100-day project approval timeline—down from the current 7-year cycle—by promoting digital clearances and fast-tracking adoption of precast and prefab technologies to deliver faster, more efficient housing solutions.
Since the start of 2025, the real estate market seems to have consolidated or cooled down. Do you think this trend will continue?
Let me answer this in a lighter vein: 2021 was the Corona year, and 2025 seems to have started as the Trump year. His impact is being felt very quickly and globally. The Indian economy and its industries, including real estate, have shown strong resilience, whether it was during COVID-19 or amid the recent geopolitical tensions. Over the past six months, we have seen a positive shift and we expect the market to bounce back strongly by July-August 2025. We remain optimistic about the sector's long-term growth.
What role do you see technology playing in transforming the real estate industry, from construction methodologies to sales and customer engagement?
The integration of PropTech solutions—such as AI-driven project management tools, 3D printing, precast and prefabrication is revolutionising construction by addressing skilled labour shortages and reducing delivery timelines. These innovations ensure faster, cost-effective, and high-quality development with reduced on-site workforce dependencies, while enhancing overall operational efficiency. CREDAI is actively championing the adoption of modern construction technologies across its developer ecosystem.
CREDAI has spoken about carbon neutrality and sustainability goals. What concrete steps are you taking on that front?
We strongly believe that development and sustainability must go hand in hand. As infrastructure and real estate sectors grow, pollution concerns and environmental stress will inevitably rise. So to offset this, we are focusing heavily on reforestation. Our belief is that if we are building at one place, we must be planting trees at another. Our goal is to develop 1 lakh acres of forest in the next five years. We are starting with a 9,000-acre reforestation project at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik, this month.
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