mumbai domestic private equity firms scouting for investment opportunities are finding the cashstrapped real estate sector a good bet around halfadozen pe firms are in various stages of raising money to be deployed in real estate projects with money becoming costlier for developers these investors are expecting to generate 2025 returns on their portfolios over the next few yearsanalysts tracking deals in the real estate sector expect domestic private equity funds to raise about rs 8000 crore over the next few months for such investments almost all funds having a real estate portfolio are looking to raise funds in tranchesicici ventures ask investment holdings anand rathiknight frank motilal oswal private equity and saffron asset advisors are among the firms that are at different stages of raising capital for the cashdeficient sectorreal estate is an incomegenerating asset class said sunil rohokale executive director ask investment holdings which is launching a rs 1000crore residential property fundrealistic demand for housing across indian cities supported by rising income make residential real estate a good sector to invest and obtain superior riskadjusted returns there is tremendous investment opportunity in shorter gestation citycentric selfliquidating residential real estate projects with prudent developers said mr rohokaleask real estate special opportunities fund will only invest in shorter gestation construction time 34 years city and suburban citycentric residential projects located in topseven cities the fund will not invest more than 30 in any nonmetro city only up to 25 will be invested in one project and not more than 30 will be invested in a developer group mr rohokale addedicici venture and anand rathiknight frank are planning to raise rs 1000 crore and rs 250 respectively from domestic investors after the unfolding of bribesforloan scam in which several real estate companies were named developers are finding it difficult to raise capital at affordable rates the informal clamp down on banks funding real estate sector rbi raising lending rates and lukewarm sales as a result of high realty prices is hurting real estate companiesthese factors have improved investment opportunities as developers are now open to partnering with real estate funds on better terms for instance they are willing to share a larger portion of profits about 2228 with private equity investorsaccording to analysts real estate investments bear less risk than what they did in previous times in sharp contrast to 2007 and early 2008 real estate companies are not investing money to acquire mass land bank or other fixed assets after the turmoil in end2008 real estate companies have realised the need for a strong balance sheet many overleveraged real estate firms have used their cash in books to deleverage themselveswe are positive on the sector we expect demand for residential properties to continue over the next few years said shobhit agarwal presidentcapital markets global real estate jones lang lasalle meghraj