Tier-II Cities Take Centre Stage in India's 2026 Realty Map

India's real estate growth story is no longer confined to Mumbai, Bengaluru or NCR. A joint Colliers-CII report titled 'Real Estate @2047' has identified 17 emerging cities set to shape the country's next phase of property growth, with Nagpur, Jaipur and Lucknow named among the strongest contenders. A new joint report by Colliers and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has identified 17 emerging cities that could shape the country's next phase of property growth, with four Tier-2 cities—Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow and Surat—standing out as potential multi-bagger hotspots over the next two decades.

The numbers back the shift. Recent reports show tier-2 cities collectively recorded year-on-year absorption growth of close to 20 per cent. According to research by Colliers and Knight Frank, tier-2 cities are now outpacing metros in absorption growth, even as overall residential demand remains steady nationwide. This isn't a temporary blip — what is unfolding is a structural broadening of India's residential growth map, not a temporary detour in demand.

Nagpur's transformation is being driven almost entirely by connectivity. The 701-kilometre Samruddhi Mahamarg, India's longest expressway, connects Nagpur to Mumbai in approximately eight hours, opening up Nagpur's peripheral zones to Mumbai-based businesses and logistics operators. Closer to the city core, Wardha Road, connecting central Nagpur to the MIHAN zone, has become one of the city's strongest real estate corridors. The impact on land values has been sharp: corridors in cities like Nagpur and Lucknow have already delivered 25–35 percent price appreciation along key routes.

Jaipur tells a different but equally compelling story — one of maturing demand rather than pure infrastructure catch-up. Jaipur has transitioned from an affordable housing market to a mid-income growth hub, with rising transaction volumes and a near doubling of average ticket sizes reflecting improved buyer purchasing power and demand for quality housing. The city is also diversifying beyond housing. Jaipur is emerging as a strong contender in newer categories such as senior living and other alternative real estate asset classes, and is expected to play a major role in the next wave of organised retail expansion.

Lucknow's growth has long been tied to state-led infrastructure push. Lucknow's realty market is riding high on the development of infrastructure projects such as the internal metro network and the Delhi-Agra-Lucknow Expressway. That momentum is now translating into genuine end-user demand rather than speculative buying: in cities such as Jaipur, Lucknow and Indore, improved infrastructure, expanding job ecosystems, and a better value proposition are encouraging families to upgrade locally instead of migrating outward.

What makes this cycle different from earlier tier-II booms is the nature of the demand. Most tier-2 cities are primarily end-user driven, with demand supported by local employment, education, healthcare expansion, and migration of professionals back to home cities, reducing speculative volatility. National sentiment surveys confirm the shift in buyer mindset: according to ANAROCK, 26 percent of investors in a national survey now prefer tier-2 and tier-3 cities, with the bulk of real estate activity likely to take place in these markets in the coming years.

For homebuyers, this changes the calculus on where to buy next. Waiting for infrastructure to be fully operational typically means buying at a premium; entering during the construction phase of a metro line or expressway has historically delivered the strongest appreciation. Established, trusted developers with an existing footprint in these cities — rather than untested local names — remain the safer route to ride this cycle, since execution risk is the biggest variable in emerging markets.

Mahindra Lifespaces has been present in this tier-II growth story well before it became a headline trend. The developer operates Mahindra Bloomdale in Nagpur's MIHAN zone and the large-format Mahindra World City in Jaipur, giving homebuyers an established, RERA-registered entry point into two of the cities now being flagged as 2026's top growth markets.