India and the United States clinched a major trade pact on February 2, with Washington cutting tariffs on Indian goods to 18%, giving New Delhi a competitive edge over export rivals such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Experts say the agreement could indirectly affect the real estate market by boosting foreign direct investment in commercial real estate and strengthening demand for office space, particularly for global capability centres.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters on Feb 3 that the deal is in the final stages of detailing between the negotiating teams of both countries, and technical details will be made available through an India-US joint statement likely to be issued soon.
He said the deal is not just about trade but also about integrating India into global value chains (GVCs) and attracting investments worth lakhs of crores into the country. He said this deal will help India access world-class technology in Artificial Intelligence (AI), semiconductors, and critical minerals, apart from paving the way for high-performance data centres and Global Capability Centers (GCCs) to be set up in India.
Real estate experts say that the agreement, which rolled back punitive tariffs on Indian exports from around 50% to about 18%, is expected to ease macroeconomic uncertainty and improve investor sentiment, factors that may have a positive ripple effect on exports and overall economic growth.
“The sectors expected to benefit the most include textiles and apparel, chemicals, leather, and gems and jewellery. The deal is widely seen as reducing the uncertainty that had weighed on Indian markets and the rupee, and as improving business sentiment,” said JLL, a global real estate consultancy.
“Indirectly, the benefits on India’s real estate market are undeniable. Lower trade tensions and a stronger currency support capital inflows and foreign investment confidence, which historically helped commercial and residential property markets. Conversely, without such an agreement, tariff-related export stress had risked slowing broader economic growth, potentially dampening demand in the price-sensitive real estate sector,” said Samantak Das, Chief Economist and head of Research and REIS, India, JLL.
“The commercial real estate sector is expected to benefit from higher global institutional funding. Lower tariffs could boost manufacturing-led businesses, while rising exports are likely to attract engineering research and development–focused global capability centres, driving increased demand for leased commercial space,” said Das.
US companies have become major players in India’s commercial real estate market. A JLL report in 2025 showed that while foreign institutional investment declined as a percentage of total activity, absolute foreign capital deployment increased by 18% year-over-year, demonstrating continued confidence in Indian real estate fundamentals. American-based investors showed particularly robust commitment, increasing their investment from $1.6 billion in 2024 to $2.6 billion in 2025, a substantial 63% year-over-year growth.
Santhosh Kumar, Vice Chairman – ANAROCK Group, said that “The India-US trade deal, if finalised and ratified, can have a moderately positive effect on India’s real estate market by potentially lowering tariffs on building materials, lower developers’ input costs, bringing in more FDI into commercial real estate, and increasing demand for office spaces as US companies expand in India.”
Apart from the Trump Organization, which has a limited footprint in India, there are other US-based real estate firms active in India. “They stand to benefit from improved trade relations,” said Kumar.
As per data shared by C&W, in 2025, institutional investments in real estate stood the highest ever at $8.4 billion, which was much higher than the 7.1 billion recorded in 2024. Much of this increase was contributed by domestic investors as foreign investors were pulling back capital from emerging economies owing to weakening currency. However, the US-India trade deal could reverse that trend as rupee is expected to strengthen and the currency risk element is mitigated to some extent.
On the GCC leasing volume, it was recorded at 29 msf in 2025, which was 33% share of overall leasing volume. This segment was clearly the biggest driver of demand. US-based GCCs contributed the most (~75%) of this demand, reinforcing the strong economic ties between the two nations, the C&W data showed.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/