India’s real estate market is undergoing a structural consolidation, with listed real estate developers like Godrej Properties and Brigade tightening their grip on prime land even as overall transaction volumes cool.

Listed players accounted for 49 per cent of all land deals in FY2026, up from 40 per cent in FY2025. In absolute terms, 54 out of 111 land deals — covering over 1,433 acres - were executed by listed companies, highlighting their growing dominance despite a dip in overall deal volumes, says ANAROCK Group data.

Leading the activity was Godrej Properties with 17 deals spanning 443.5 acres, followed by Brigade Group with 8 deals.

Structural shift, not cyclical

Anuj Puri, Chairman — ANAROCK Group, says that land acquisition is increasingly becoming both capital-intensive and regulation-driven in the last few years. “In this scenario, listed developers have a clear edge over unorganised or smaller players, thanks to their easier access to institutional capital and transparent balance sheets. While the total number of land deals dropped from 143 in FY2025 to 111 in FY2026, the land buying activity of these dominant players remained remarkably resilient.”

Ranjeeth Rathod, MD, DRA Homes, said the consolidation trend is structural.

“Capital today is choosing credibility. Institutional capital is flowing disproportionately towards well-governed and scalable developers,” he noted, adding that access to funding has become the biggest competitive advantage.

Rathod also pointed out that landowners are prioritising execution certainty over price, while regulatory tightening post-Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 has increased compliance costs, accelerating consolidation in favour of organised players.

Bengaluru tops

Bengaluru emerged as the top hotspot with 17 deals covering over 293 acres. Other key markets include Pune: 8 deals (~78 acres); Mumbai Metropolitan Region: 7 deals (51+ acres); Chennai: 5 deals (74+ acres); Hyderabad: 5 deals (~38 acres) and National Capital Region: 2 deals (18.6 acres), ANAROCK said.

Among emerging markets, Amritsar stood out with two deals totalling 520 acres, while Vadodara, Nagpur, Panipat, Mysore, Raipur, and Coimbatore also saw activity.

Supply trends and buyer behaviour

Across the top seven cities, listed and Grade A developers accounted for 45 per cent of new housing supply in FY2026, up from 43 per cent in FY2025.

The shift is especially pronounced in the National Capital Region, where 66 per cent of new supply came from organised players.

“This clearly highlights NCR homebuyers’ rising prioritisation of reliability and brand equity… the market has undertaken a major flight to trust,” said Puri.

Godrej leads

Gaurav Pandey, MD and CEO, Godrej Properties Ltd, reacting to the ANAROCK report said, “We added 18 new projects during FY26 with an estimated saleable area of ~33.32 million sq. ft. and booking value potential of ₹42,100 crore, more than double our initial guidance, making it our best-ever year for business development.”

Published on May 3, 2026