Understanding the Evolution of Real Estate Through History
The evolution of real estate has been part of our country for ages and has a great history. Since its independence, India’s real estate business has achieved incredible milestones by developing everlasting buildings and valuable assets.
Even during the Mughal period, we witnessed the construction of grand places, forts, and mausoleums. The Taj Mahal is a beautiful example of the thriving construction industry.
Even during the British period, we saw the development of cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. The development of urban centers happened with the construction of railway networks, ports, and administrative buildings.
India is recognized as the second most populous real estate sector and impacts the country’s economy. The journey behind the evolution of real estate has covered a long way and is known as one of the most emerging economies for bringing socio-economic changes.
With the increased number of people migrating, demand for real estate, commercial, housing space, industries, and various cities has increased.
Real Estate History in India and the Evolution of Real Estate
Chandigarh was the first-ever planned town that was built after independence in the 1970s, and that was a great success. With the success of the first planned city, the evolution of real estate businesses benchmarked their creativity and helped in expanding this business and more townships around the nation.
With this growth, the number of skyscrapers, office buildings, urbanization, and increase in living standards have increased demand for such townships. An economic liberalization took place in 1991. The opportunities for foreign investors and stakeholders to enter into the Indian market increased.
However, in some ways, this economic liberalization helped but also impacted the family’s lifestyles. With the rapid population growth and increasing population, individuals started moving to towns for better lifestyles and better opportunities. This also contributed to a rise in demand for townships.
With township culture, families moved from “joint” to “nuclear,” and this increased urbanization in 1980 to 23.34% to 25.72% in 1991.
Detailed Phases in the Evolution of Real Estate
Back in time when supply mechanics got trending, the concept of the nuclear family gained so much popularity that families started to desire such townships even more. People started to desire such residential areas even more with the number of facilities at the same place. At this time, the concept of shopping centers became popular, and Spencer Plaza Mall of Chennai was to serve such service.
The overall evolution of real estate brought a revolution in the field of the development of technology and the Internet. This revolution brought the birth of an enormous number of metropolitan cities.
Having these changes, India approved the modernization of both its Greenfield and Brownfield, which are the airports of Bengaluru and the airports of Mumbai and Delhi, in 2006. This ongoing evolution of real estate greatly raised the need for property development. With lots of changes coming, the real estate business needed to build trust in them. For that we have REITs.
What are Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)?
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) established in 2014 enabled investors with enough financial resources to make secure investments. On May 1st, 2017, the RERA was passed by the government to promote township development.
This was considered one of the smartest moves in the real estate market that not only benefited the developers but also benefited homebuyers as well.
Government Initiatives for Real Estate in India
Initiatives are made for better execution of the particular service. Government initiatives offered individuals better housing accessibility with affordable pricing for everyone.
Government initiatives include FSI standards that help to eliminate land hoarding and other land trade activities feasibly. Another government initiative is “Housing for All” which is based on the concept of cheap housing, this helped real estate business owners to increase their liquidity.
With the introduction of the RERA Law, in 2016 the real estate sector became more trustworthy with better transparency. This law brought clarity and fairness for both the sellers and the buyers, which was much needed. RERA brought confidence in easy accessibility and bridged the gaps between sellers and buyers.
India’s Real Estate Market: A Rising Star
As India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, real estate industries contribute to its overall growth and help in sustaining it as well. According to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), India is the second-largest employer and third-largest recipient of real estate, and by 2024, the real estate industry will reach up to 65,000 crores.
It has also been predicted that this particular sector will contribute 13% of India’s GDP. This huge percentage shows how beautifully and successfully this sector is emerging and will set unbeatable benchmarking in the coming years. The real estate business has shown tremendous changes and offered thousands of residential, commercial, and retail initiatives.
Growth of Tier 2 & Tier 3 Cities
The continuous evolution of real estate now aims for people of Tier II and Tier III to adopt living comfortably in multiple-storied buildings that are fully safe and secured with an uncountable number of facilities in that residence itself.
This helped residents as the style of living and working can be completely changed after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, not only the big cities residents but also the small city and town residents are looking for properties or structures that are best suited both ways.
People living in smaller cities and towns are now more interested in living in modern housing with amenities like gyms, spas, tuck shops, and ATMs—all of the necessary things nearby. As many people are working from home, the demand for good office space or shared working spaces has increased.
This increase in demand for such commercial spaces and residential spaces has boosted the growth of real estate over time. After COVID, it has been observed that residential spaces with big verandas and balconies have increased. It also impacted the use of the internet as most people are working from home. Real estate developers are determined to develop long-lasting structures and hence get popular with each passing day.

