India will host the global International Real Estate Conference for the first time, with Hyderabad's HITEX Exhibition Centre welcoming over 1,500 delegates from 35-plus countries from September 25-27.
The seventh edition of the International Real Estate Conference, IREC 2026, lands at Hyderabad's HITEX Exhibition Centre from September 25 to 27, marking the first time the biennial global platform has been hosted in India. More than 1,500 delegates and industry leaders from over 35 countries are expected, spanning developers, investors, realtors, policymakers, financial institutions and technology companies. IREC organiser NAR-India describes the event's scale as running into the thousands, with some materials putting delegate expectations closer to 2,000 once exhibitors are included.
IREC has run since 2015 under the US-based National Association of REALTORS, cycling through Manila, Bangkok, Incheon, Hanoi, Tokyo and, most recently, Kuala Lumpur in 2024. India secured the bid for this seventh edition after NAR-India's delegation made its case at the 2024 Kuala Lumpur conference, where an India-focused session reportedly drew strong interest from global investors. Hosting rights don't rotate automatically. NAR-India Chairman Sumanth Reddy Arani framed the win as a signal about where the country's real estate sector now sits, telling reporters that Indian developers, professionals and projects are increasingly operating at global standards.
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IREC 2026 isn't a single-track conference. It combines three complementary components under one roof: the core International Real Estate Conference, a PropTech and Real Estate Innovation Showcase, and a Luxury Property Expo. The event runs on the theme "The Door to What Happens Next," with sessions covering shifting economic priorities, cross-border investment flows, AI and DeepTech applications in real estate, and sustainable development. IREC 2026 Chair Shailender Singh described the goal as building a platform that connects India with what's happening next in global real estate, rather than a purely domestic showcase.
The city's selection over other Indian metros ties to Hyderabad's own real estate trajectory, HITEC City's established commercial base, a fast-growing luxury segment, and the kind of large-format exhibition infrastructure HITEX provides at roughly 45 minutes from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The event includes curated site visits to Hyderabad's landmark projects, effectively turning the city itself into part of the conference's pitch to visiting delegates and international capital.
This isn't happening in isolation from what's on the ground in Hyderabad's own market. Brigade's recent ₹2,700 crore Hyderabad launch is one example of the scale developers are already committing to the city, and a conference of this size landing here in the same year adds another data point to the argument that Hyderabad is competing for a tier of investor attention that used to concentrate almost exclusively on Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
Beyond the headline sessions, IREC 2026 includes investor roundtables aimed at linking global capital with Indian opportunities, leadership forums on PropTech and ESG, and a Gala Night on September 26. Registration is open through IREC's own event platform, and the organisers have pitched the event specifically at realtors and developers outside Hyderabad too, with regional realtor associations in cities like Pune already encouraging members to attend.
