Major cities in India see surge in office leasing to 66% in FY21

According to Anarock Property Consultants, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai saw their combined share of office leasing increase to 66% in 2020-21, compared to 47% in 2017-18. In 2020-21, net office absorption in the top cities was 21.32 million sq ft, with 14.06 million sq ft absorbed in these three southern cities. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune absorbed 4.56 million sq ft (21%) of the total, while the NCR absorbed 2.3 million sq ft (11%). In the 2017-19 fiscal year, the top seven cities leased 31.15 million sq feet of office space. Cities in the south accounted for 47% of net absorption, 33% in the west, and 17% in the north. Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad have also continued to increase their share of new office supply from 40% in FY18 to nearly 63% in FY21. The southern cities accounted for 63% of the total new office space completion of 40.25 million sq ft in FY21 across the top seven cities, with about 25.55 million sq ft. The main western markets' share of office supply fell to 19% in FY21, down from 40% in FY18. Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarock Group told the media that the remarkable growth in the office market of these three southern cities, when compared to their western and northern counterparts, is directly attributable to robust demand from the IT or ITeS sector, affordable rentals, and the exponential growth of start-ups locally over the last few years. Demand is also fueled by the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Office rentals in each of the southern cities increased by double digits between FY18 and FY21. During this time, office rentals in NCR remained relatively flat, while MMR and Pune saw only 2% and 8% rental growth, respectively. Image Source Also read: Mckinsey leases office space of 45,000 sq ft in Mumbai