Office space leasing remains strong

The office space absorption in seven cities, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, rose 14 per cent during July-September quarter as compared with the year-ago period. Office space leasing in seven major cities touched a 10 quarter high at 11 million sq ft during this period with corporates remaining upbeat on their expansion plans, according to property consultant CBRE.

“The third quarter of the year continued to observe strong leasing activity with occupier demand for corporate real estate reaching a 10-quarter high of 11 million sq ft, recording a growth of 9 per cent on a q-o-q basis and 14 per cent on a y-o-y basis,” CBRE said in its quarterly report on India Office Market.

The demand for office space was led by Bangalore (24 per cent), Hyderabad (17 per cent) and Mumbai (16 per cent) followed by Chennai (16 per cent) and Pune (13 per cent).

In the first nine months of 2016, the overall prime office space absorption across the seven leading cities was about 28 million sq ft. 

“The commercial real estate market in India continues to grow at a steady pace. Positive changes in policy and regulations have given a further boost to the sector,” CBRE Chairman (India and South East Asia) Anshuman Magazine said. NCR, however,, witnessed a drop of almost 50 per cent in office space take-up by corporate occupiers on a quarterly basis. “This was largely because of a lack of available supply in the established micro-markets, coupled with the fact that new supply of office space lined up for completion was delayed”. — PTI