BENGALURU|NEW DELHI: Private equity funds almost tripled their investments in India’s real estate sector in the first six months of 2015 even as cash-strapped builders rushed to raise money to complete existing projects.Private equity funds invested Rs 11,180 crore in the country’s commercial and residential real estate in the first half, up from Rs 4,002 crore a year ago, according to data from real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield. “While PE investments in real estate sector have been rising steadily on year-on-year basis, funds are taking calculated risk and mainly investing in those projects where there is proper clarity on cash flow,” said Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director, South Asia, at Cushman & Wakefield. Commercial office sector received investments worth Rs 4,528 crore in the first half while the residential sector got Rs 6,328 crore.Anckur Srivasttava, chairman of GenReal Property Advisers, said, “Much of the money is going for last mile funding where developers are seeking funds to complete pending projects. The developer also uses some part of this money to acquire additional land or secure approvals. These deals are usually happening in those pockets in different cities where sales are still happening.”Indian real estate sector has been under stress due to slow sales of residential properties across major cities in the country. At the same time, banks, faced with rising bad loans, have become cautious about lending to the sector even as several real estate firms struggle to service their debt.According to the property advisory firm Knight Frank, there have been 40 per cent drop in new residential project launches and 20 per cent dip in home sales in the last one year. The worst hit is the property market in the National Capital Region of Delhi, where new launches have dropped by 68 per cent in the first half of 2015.Across the country, total unsold inventory stands at 7,06,900 units, which will take over three years to sell. Xander, Milestone Capital Advisors, Indiareit Fund Advisors, ASK and Blackstone are among the funds that committed big buck to the Indian real estate sector.According to data from VCCircle Edge, Blackstone Real Estate Partners recently invested $165.8million to buy Vikhroli Corporate Park; Ozone Urbana Infra Developers raised $94.2 million from Piramal Fund Management; and Assetz Property and Homes LLP raised $116 million from Equis Fund Group. “Today, NBFCs are funding buying of land and also investing in projects before they have got all approvals, which was earlier the domain of structured finance and mezzanine finance players,” said Amit Bhagat, managing director of Ask Property Investment Advisors, which invests in residential projects.Nitin Goel, managing partner for real estate investments at Milestone Capital, said, “Overall there is a lot of money chasing the real estate sector both in commercial and residential segment.We are looking to invest in projects that are close to completion.” The investment trend is likely to continue owing to improved macro-economic factors such as the decline in twin deficits (fiscal and current account), controlled inflation which is well within RBI comfort zone, primarily owing to low crude oil prices which are anticipated to remain low at least for the foreseeable future.