In a deal that may spark a revival in the National Capital Region’s commercial real estate market, Unitech Ltd has inked a multi-crore deal to lease space at one of its IT SEZs in Gurgaon to MNC human resource firm Aon Hewitt.
Though the size of the deal could not be independently verified, the real estate major could potentially earn revenue of Rs 800 crore over a 15-year period, according to sources close to the development.
Over eight-lakh square feet of space at Unitech’s Gurgaon Infospace Tikri SEZ has been leased.
The total leasable area on completion of this SEZ project is 3.32 million sq ft.
The current rental value in the area is Rs 60 per sq foot per month. About seven lakh sq feet has already been occupied, by tenants such as Genpact, Colt and Cognizant.
The 25-acre Infospace Tikri SEZ is located next to a 150-acre residential township being developed by Unitech (Uniworld resorts) about half a km from NH8 and in close proximity to Sohna Road. A Unitech declined to comment on the deal.
High rentals
Santhosh Kumar, CEO, Operations, at Jones Lang LaSalle India, said that though leasing activity in general is moderate, rentals will remain high in some catchment areas, such as Delhi-NCR, due to the demand-supply parameters. According to a recent report by real estate consultancy Knight Frank India, India’s office space stock is expected to increase by 40 per cent to 642.2 million sq ft by 2017.
Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad are key markets.
Despite strong absorption, incremental supply resulted in vacancy levels rising from 15 per cent in 2007 to 19 per cent in 2012.
A report by DTZ, a property services firm, pointed out that Indian markets continue to offer some of the most competitive rents for tenants in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
In India, Hyderabad has the most affordable office rents, while Delhi remains relatively more expensive.
Despite investor sentiment being subdued in recent months, the Indian market is expected to grow along with the rest of the APAC region in the next five years.
Over 2013-17, Indian cities will have some of the fastest rental growths in the region, but still remain among the most competitive, the report said.