US-India Forum: Real Estate's Now Red Hot

DALLAS-Imagine a marketplace with nearly 1.2 billion consumers and the world’s most rapidly growing middle class; a 22.4-million shortage of residential units; 55 million sf of office space demand annually; and a $258-billion retail sector with a 30% annual growth rate. The gist of the stats is it’s a land of opportunity.

It’s not Dubai and it’s not China. It’s India, an English-speaking, 60-year-old democracy that has reached an economic pinnacle with an annual growth rate of 9% and climbing. Its companies are now starting to buy assets in the US and elsewhere, setting up a two-way street for a fast-track capital flow.

“They’re following a better, more sustainable long-term model for development than China, I think,” Michael Cox, senior vice president and chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told yesterday’s crowd at the Greater Dallas Chamber’s US-India Business Forum in the Hotel Inter-Continental at 15201 Dallas Pkwy. in Addison. He pointed out the difference between the two neighbors is India’s headway isn’t strictly tied to manufacturing.