India, March 30 -- As the 2025-26 financial year comes to a close, a clear shift is emerging in the portfolios of Indian retail investors. For years, real estate wealth was largely defined by notional appreciation, locked in an apartment or a vacant plot. By March 2026, that narrative has begun to change, with investors increasingly evaluating their holdings through a more pragmatic lens: income over appreciation.

This 'yield-first' approach is more than a passing trend, it signals a structural shift. With the formalisation of Small and Medium REITs (SM REITs) and the rise of digital property exchanges, real estate is increasingly behaving like a financial asset, more liquid, granular, and oriented towards stable, predictable cash flows....