New Delhi: PE i.e. private equity (PE) investment in the real estate sector declined by five per cent year-on-year to $1.9 billion in the April-June quarter of the current financial year. Giving this information, real estate consultant Anarock said that private equity inflows have come down due to high interest rates. With this, private equity investment in the real estate sector stood at $2 billion in the same quarter last year. In its ‘Monitoring Report on Capital Inflows into Indian Real Estate-Flux Q1 2023-24’, Anarock has said that there has been a marginal decline in PE activities in the first quarter of the current financial year due to higher interest rates. PE inflows in the first quarter of FY 2021-22 stood at $1.4 billion. While it was $ 200 million in the first quarter of 2020-21 and $ 1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2019-20. According to the data, foreign investors accounted for 94 per cent of PE investments, while domestic funds accounted for six per cent. PE activity was largely dominated by equities. Equity investment accounted for 94 per cent of the total inflows. In May, Brookfield India Reit (BIRET) and Singapore’s GIC in equal partnership announced the acquisition of two commercial properties in India for $1.4 billion. “Except for this deal, PE activities have been more or less subdued due to high interest rates and global uncertainties,” said Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO, Anarock Capital. Of the total PE investments in the real estate sector during April-June, 90 per cent came in office properties. The figure stood at 68 per cent in the same period a year ago. (agency)