According to JLL, landowners and real estate, developers collaborated to develop 1,546 acres of land during the previous 18 months, from January 2023 to June 2024. There were 56 different Joint Development Agreements (JDAs) signed during this time. Development agreements have shown to be very effective in enabling developers to enter new markets and cities while giving landowners additional benefits. Furthermore, several renowned foreign developers who have recently joined the Indian real estate market have chosen to employ this tactic with encouraging outcomes.
Approximately 990 hectares of the 1,546 acres total JDAs were signed in 2023 alone, with the remaining 556 acres being signed in the first half of 2024.
Joint development agreements are still an option for national developers seeking to expand into new areas while sticking to an asset-light strategy, even though many now prefer outright land acquisitions. Over eighteen months, developers and landowners have come together to generate over 120 million square feet of development potential.
“Over the past 18 months, the residential sector has signed the most land Joint Development Agreements (JDAs). According to Dr. Samantak Das, chief economist and head of research and REIS, India, JLL, “proposed residential developments have a significant share of more than 97% (1,501 acres) in these signed agreements offering a development potential of 110 million sqft with an estimated gross development value of around Rs 99,460 crore.” “Real estate developers have been introducing new housing projects regularly due to the rising demand for housing in recent years. The number of new housing units introduced in India’s top 7 cities increased significantly in 2023, showing a 19% increase over 2022,” he continued.
Out of the 1,546 total acres, 45 acres were set aside for the development of commercial projects, most of which were office buildings with leases.
According to the city share analysis, smaller cities like Ahmedabad and Surat top the charts according to area transacted, while larger cities like Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai lead in the number of deals. The three larger cities accounted for just 26% of the total area, but together they hosted 36 deals, accounting for 64%. Smaller-scale transactions are primarily driven by land availability and cost in these larger urban areas. Nishant Kabra, head of JLL’s capital markets (North and West India), India, stated that the three cities– Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, and Mumbai— accounted for a significant Rs 83,927 crore, or over 84% of the total residential GDV (Rs 99,460).
Delhi NCR has been at the forefront of various transactions; since 2023, 20 JDAs totaling about 233 acres of land have been signed. There is a 36.5 million square foot potential development from these agreements. Most of these agreements, totaling 151 acres in the Delhi NCR, were signed in Gurgaon alone. Several legally binding deals have been entered into by prominent real estate players in Gurgaon, mainly along the developing Dwarka Expressway and Southern Peripheral Road corridors. Sonipat, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and the NCT of Delhi accounted for the remaining deals in the NCR.
With nine deals totaling more than 102 acres and approximately 11 million square feet of development potential, Bengaluru came in second. Several deals were documented in Old Madras Road, Whitefield, and Yelahanka. Notably, a transaction involving more than 60 acres was recorded in North Bengaluru. Seven transactions totaling 62.5 acres, with a 9.9 million square foot development potential, were recorded in Mumbai.