Data centre stock to reach 20 mn sq ft by 2023

Hyderabad: The investments in emerging asset classes such as data centres and life sciences are gaining traction in India. In a first of its kind investments by a foreign investor in life sciences sector, Ivanhoé Cambridge and Lighthouse Canton invested $100 million in a 0.85 million-sq ft life science R&D office-labs at Genome Valley, Hyderabad during July-September (Q3) of 2021.

During January-September 2021, data centers saw investments of about $235 million, with corporates tying up with global data center providers. Demand for data centers in India is growing. Colliers expects total co-location data centre stock to reach 20 million square feet by 2023, led by local and global data centre developers, from 9.5 million square feet at present.

As per a report by leading diversified professional services and investment management company Colliers, the residential and warehousing sectors are likely to see increased investments from investors over the next few quarters. In Q3 2021, foreign and domestic investors invested in residential projects in cities like NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai.

During January-September 2021, industrial and warehousing assets attracted solid investments of about $900 million from investors. Leasing in warehouses in anticipation of the ongoing festive season and the continued demand from e-commerce companies, are making warehousing assets attractive to investors.

Land acquisitions of about 35-50 acres occurred primarily on the outskirts of tier-2 cities, such as Pune, Indore, Kochi, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Residential sector has also performed very well with record sales across markets helping developers to deleverage and acquire new opportunities. "The real estate sector has seen the resolution of distressed situations and investors across capital stack be it Special Situations, Income Generating sustainable assets, Private Credit are finding Indian opportunity attractive for the long term", said Piyush Gupta, Managing Director, Capital Markets and Investments Services, Colliers India.

During the quarter, large, listed developers focused on lowering debt and expanding their portfolios while launching new projects and acquiring distressed assets. From Q3 2021 onwards, the residential sector has already seen an uptick in housing sales led by pent-up demand from the last few months, and other factors.