Leasing activity in India increased over 10 per cent in the first half of calendar 2018 against the same period of 2017. Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai accounted for over 80 per cent of leasing during this period, according to CBRE’s ‘Office Market View- Q2 2018 Report’.
The report by the property consulting firm said office leasing activity had crossed 20 million sq ft during the first half of 2018.
Also, about 16 million sq ft of supply has been added, an increase of more than 40 per cent in the first half of 2018 over the same period in 2017
Tech corporates were the strongest drivers of office space demand in the country during the second quarter of 2018 with a 31 per cent share, followed by co-working/business centre firms (17 per cent), banking, financial services and insurance (14 per cent), engineering and manufacturing (8 per cent) and e-commerce (6 per cent). “Corporates are likely to remain cost-sensitive, develop workplace strategies for efficient space utilisation, which will impact office space absorption. We foresee pre-commitments in quality, cost-effective projects nearing completion which will have a significant impact on office leasing activity across key cities,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South East Asia, CBRE.
Meanwhile, the space take-up was dominated by small and medium sized transactions (less than 50,000 sq ft). Small-sized transactions (less than 10,000 sq ft) accounted for about 44 per cent of the activity in the quarter, while mid-sized transactions (ranging between 10,000 sq ft and 50,000 sq ft) accounted for a 42 per cent share.
The share of large sized deals (more than 100,000 sq ft) rose marginally from 4 per cent in the previous quarter to about 5 per cent.