Builders bought 415 acres in Delhi-NCR in 2023 for Rs 9,120 crore to develop projects: Report

Real estate developers bought 415 acres of land in Delhi-NCR for about Rs 9,120 crore last year to build housing and commercial projects amid rising demand, according to JLL.

In a statement on Tuesday, real estate consultant JLL India highlighted that "Delhi-NCR led both in terms of number and area of land deals, with 415 acres acquired across 36 separate transactions valued at approximately Rs 9,120 crore." Of these 415 acres, around 264 acres (64 per cent) valued over Rs 5,300 crore were acquired in Gurugram.

This was followed by Noida with over 59 acres (14 per cent) land being acquired at Rs 1,775 crore. Delhi, Faridabad, and Sonipat contributed the rest. JLL India has not included Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) in this analysis and only outright purchases by real estate developers have been considered.

With rising property demand, the consultant noted that real estate developers are building a robust supply pipeline by investing in acquisition of land across the country.

"A total of 1,947 acres of land valued at Rs 32,203 crore in 111 separate deals were acquired by real estate developers in 2023 as compared to 1,603 acres in 2022 (valued at Rs 18,112 crore), up 21 per cent year-on-year," JLL said.

The land acquired has a development potential of around 176 million sq ft. Of the 1,947 acres, builders have acquired 1,365 acres for development of housing projects.

The consultant data showed that the average transacted value of land has touched Rs 16.5 crore per acre in 2023, up 46 per cent as compared to the previous year. It attributed the increase in average land cost to higher transactions in Tier 1 cities and established prime micro markets. In Bengaluru, around 305 acres of land acquisition took place last year valued at Rs 3,412 crore.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) -- the most expensive real estate market in the country -- saw 24 separate land deals spread over 289 acres valued at Rs 11,222 crore.

This translates into average transacted value of Rs 39 crore per acre, which is 2.3 times of the average pan-India land value. In Chennai, 209 acres of land were acquired at Rs 1,220 crore across eight separate deals.

Other cities like Nagpur, Ludhiana, Ahmedabad, and Ayodhya experienced prominent developers acquiring land. Ludhiana led in terms of area acquired in Tier 2 and 3 cities with around 320 acres of land transacted.