Something is shifting in Indian real estate, and it’s bigger than a market cycle.
Tier 2 cities are no longer waiting on metros to set the pace. First-time buyers are making decisions on their phones before they’ve ever stepped onto a site. Developers who once relied on brokerage networks are now navigating PropTech platforms, green building mandates, and buyers who’ve done more research than most sales teams expect. The industry isn’t just growing. It’s being rebuilt from the ground up.
Against this backdrop, ET Edge Best Realty Brands returns for its seventh edition, coming to Mumbai in March 2026. Nominations are open.
What This Year’s Theme Actually Means
New Cities. New Buyers. New Real Estate. It’s not a tagline pulled from a strategy deck. It’s a description of what’s already happening on the ground.
The old developer-buyer transaction is giving way to something more layered. Construction technology firms, PropTech startups, facilities management companies, interior designers, and green building specialists are now as much a part of a project’s outcome as the developer who broke ground. Best Realty Brands has always recognised this. This year, the nomination categories reflect it fully, covering residential and commercial developers, township builders, contract construction firms, building material brands, PropTech companies, smart infrastructure providers, and more.
If your work has changed how something gets built, sold, or lived in, this is where that work gets acknowledged.
How the Selection Works
Recognition here isn’t decided by a panel vote or a popularity contest. A dedicated Knowledge Partner sets the evaluation framework, measuring nominees against criteria that include innovation, construction quality, sustainability, customer experience, market reputation, and community contribution. Every submission goes through that filter. The brands that make the final list are the ones that held up across all of it.
The shortlisted brands are featured in the ET Edge Best Realty Brands 2026 Coffee Table Book, a publication that has become something of a benchmark document for the sector. It’s not a directory. It’s a record of the companies that actually delivered.
The Conversations Worth Having
The felicitation evening is also a forum, and the discussions are built around questions the industry is genuinely wrestling with.
How do developers earn trust in a Tier 2 city where they have no prior presence? What does aspiration mean to a buyer in Lucknow or Coimbatore, compared to someone in Gurugram? In markets where billboards don’t move the needle, what does?
Then there’s the technology question. The home-buying journey has changed more in the last five years than in the two decades before that. Algorithms surface listings before agents make calls. Virtual walkthroughs replace first site visits. AI is influencing shortlists. Where does human judgment still hold weight in all of this, and where has it already been replaced?
And sustainability, once a differentiator, is now increasingly a baseline expectation. How developers balance scale with ESG commitments, what responsible construction looks like when you’re delivering 500 units and not five, these are the conversations that will be on the table.
Who Should Be Submitting a Nomination
The eligibility bar is straightforward. At least three years in operation, consistent growth, and a track record of delivery that the market has noticed. Companies with 50 or more employees, significant project portfolios, and a reputation built on something more than marketing are encouraged to apply.
The evaluation looks at market presence, brand recall, business ethics, workplace culture, CSR track record, and industry recognition. The goal isn’t to find the biggest names. It’s to find the ones setting the standard others are quietly following.
The Process from Here
Nominations are submitted through the official portal, covering project details, sustainability initiatives, design innovations, and market performance. The research partner reviews every submission. A final selection is made based on cumulative scores, and confirmed brands are formally notified ahead of the ceremony.
Selected brands are featured across the event’s media channels and in the Coffee Table Book. The evening itself brings together CEOs, founders, PropTech builders, investors, policy voices, and project leads, the people making the decisions that shape what Indian cities actually look like.
Nominations are open now. The evaluation window is already underway, and the Coffee Table Book lineup gets confirmed on a rolling basis. Waiting doesn’t help.
India’s real estate sector has earned a reputation for resilience. The brands that will define its next chapter are the ones that combine execution with transparency, scale with sustainability, and ambition with accountability. If that’s the company you’re building, the nomination is worth your time.
Nominate now at the official ET Edge Best Realty Brands portal.
(DISCLAIMER: The information in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of The Global Hues. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information in this article.)
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