Mumbai, Jan 22 (IANS): The real estate sector in India attracted private equity investments of around $4,068 million involving 21 deals in 2020, said a Knight Frank India report.

The report noted that India attracted private equity investments to the tune of $38,149 million in total last year and the real estate sector accounted for 11 percent of it. The share of office and warehousing PE investments have jumped remarkably over the last decade from 24 percent in 2011 to 62 percent in 2020 and 6 percent to 24 percent during the same period, respectively.

Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India said: "Despite a slowdown in overall PE investment, we continue to witness a strong investor appetite for rent yielding office assets. Knight Frank believes that with more clarity on the pandemic resolution and sense on structural changes, the deal activity is expected to pick up further in 2021."

"After a temporary lull due to the global lockdowns in early 2020, India witnessed a sharp resurgence in investor sentiments towards the end of the year. The real estate sector in India witnessed private equity investments to the tune of $4.1 billion in 2020 of which $2.64 billion (64 percent of annual investments) came in the last quarter of 202," said Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist & National Director of Research, Knight Frank India.

Since 2011, on average investors invested through both debt and equity structures. However, there is a shift in investors' risk appetite as 96 percent of total PE investment was through the equity route in 2020. The trend is likely to continue in the near future, Sinha said.