Warehouses beat offices to become hottest realty bet

Bengaluru: India's warehousing and logistics real estate is becoming a leading draw for institutional capital, surpassing office and retail assets. Global and domestic investors choose to pursue stable, long-term returns with large platforms supported by long leases and low tenant turnover increasingly being readied for REIT, InvIT or public market listings.

Platform-based investments are now the dominant strategy, with global investors such as Blackstone, GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, alongside domestic capital providers including HDFC Capital and Kotak Investment Advisors, backing scaled logistics platforms.

A recent study by Grant Thornton Bharat also mentioned that institutional interest has decisively moved from exploratory to conviction led. "India's real estate landscape is being structurally redefined," said Shabala Shinde, partner and Real Estate industry leader, Grant Thornton Bharat. "Warehousing has transitioned from a peripheral asset class into strategic economic infrastructure. It now sits at the intersection of real estate, capital markets and national logistics planning, offering long-term stability, institutional-grade income and scalability."


These investments are typically underwritten with clear monetisation pathways through Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) or eventual public listings once portfolios achieve operational scale and stabilised cash flows.

"The country's warehousing and industrial sector is not only significantly under penetrated but is also poised for outsized growth as digital commerce, consumption and manufacturing continue to grow at a rapid pace," said Urvish Rambhia, CEO, Horizon Industrial parks.

The firm has scaled its network to 10 regions and 58 million square feet in five years, reflective of the considerable momentum in the warehousing and industrial sector.

Warehousing's growing appeal is also linked to its strategic role in India's manufacturing push, e-commerce expansion and supply chain formalisation. As a result, large, compliant logistics platforms with diversified tenant bases and corridor-led portfolios are increasingly viewed as defensive, income-generating assets capable of delivering long-term yield stability.

"The combination of predictable income, strong tenant stickiness, scalable portfolios, and asset appreciation creates a perpetual income stream, making this sector highly attractive for institutional capital and public market vehicles such as REITs and InvITs," said N Amrutesh Reddy, director, NDR InvIT.

The global advisory firm mentions that as India’s REIT and InvIT markets deepen under the regulatory oversight of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, logistics-focused listed vehicles could form the next phase of capital market evolution.

While office REITs and road or renewable InvITs have led the first wave of listings, warehousing—by virtue of its infrastructure-like cash flows and real estate characteristics—is well positioned for specialised logistics REITs or hybrid REIT–InvIT structures.

For developers, such platforms offer a robust capital recycling tool, enabling the monetisation of mature assets and redeployment into new projects. For investors, they provide liquid exposure to a fast-institutionalising asset class that sits at the intersection of real estate, infrastructure and India’s long-term economic growth.

“The acceleration in industrial activity and supply-chain formalisation is driving logistics and industrial real estate to become a highly investable asset class. LogiCap’s scale-up has been anchored in building institution-ready assets that prioritise operational resilience, tenant stickiness and downside protection,” said Abhay Goyal, chief investment officer, Logicap that owns and manages 18 mn sq of grade A industrial and logistics real estate, acquiring stabilised assets as well as undertaking greenfield development.

As India moves toward a $ 1 trillion real estate opportunity, warehousing and logistics will play a pivotal role in shaping not just asset allocation, but the spatial and economic contours of growth itself. According to Colliers, Institutional investments in India’s industrial and warehousing segment touched $ 734 million in 2025.