Drivers of Financial Performance of Top Real Estate Companies in India and Singapore - A Comparative Analysis

India and Singapore being in top 10 APAC (Asia - Pacific) countries and one of the preferred destinations for investors in real estate, analyzing the top real estate companies’ financial performance and comparing them can be an important contribution in the literature This study aims to identify and compare the financial performance drivers of top real estate companies in India and Singapore. It also analyzes and compare the impact of macroeconomic variable like GDP, inflation and financial indicators on the financial performance of top real estate companies of Singapore and India. It was found out that the Mean of net profitability ratio, current ratio, debt to capital employed ratio, creditors turnover ratio for top Indian real estate companies according to market capitalization is equal to top Singapore real estate companies, whereas, debt equity ratio, stock turnover ratio, debtor’s turnover ratio and return on capital employed (ROCE) is not equal. In fact, mean GDP growth rate of Singapore is equal to GDP growth rate of India and mean of inflation rate of Singapore is not equal to inflation rate of India. Further it was estimated using unbalanced panel regression at 5% significance level that ROCE significantly impacts net profit ratio for Indian and Singapore top real estate companies and even net profit ratio significantly impacts ROCE for Indian and Singapore top real estate companies. But for Indian top real estate companies ROCE impacts net profitability much higher than Singapore real estate companies and even net profitability impacts ROCE more in Indian top real estate companies than Singapore real estate companies. Inflation significantly impacts the ROCE of Singapore real estate companies, but not for Indian real estate companies. Higher inflation in India can lead to increased profitability, but it may also result in a decline in ROCE unless companies manage their inventory efficiently to boost sales. Singaporean real estate companies tend to experience an increase in net profit when the country’s GDP growth rate is high. Maintaining high liquidity and efficient capital utilization is essential for sustained financial performance. In Singapore, ROCE tends to rise with increasing inflation, highlighting the need for companies to balance profitability and capital efficiency.