‘Bengaluru leads office leasing market with a 30% share in Q2’

Office demand is expected to close at 40-45 million sq.ft. by the end of this year: Colliers

Bengaluru led the office leasing market in the country in the second quarter (April to June) of calendar year 2022 by solely forking out a 30% market share followed by Mumbai and Delhi-NCR claiming 19% and 18% slice respectively, said Colliers, a global realty advisory and management firm, on Monday.

Office gross absorption across the top six cities saw almost a three-fold rise to 14.7 million sq.ft. during Q2 of 2022 as compared to the same period last year. Pan-India absorption had already surpassed 27 million sq.ft. in the first half of the year, signalling a strong revival in occupier demand. All the major markets, with Bengaluru dominating, witnessed strong leasing activity during the quarter, driven by high occupier demand for large office spaces, said Colliers.

“The quarter saw increased office occupancy after a hiatus, as demand outpaced supply by a significant margin. Absorption in the first two quarters of the year has already surpassed more than 80% of the total absorption seen in the whole of 2021. Clearly, office demand is well headed to close at 40-45 million sq.ft. by the end of this year,’‘ said Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers.

Meanwhile, as per a recent study put out by Knight Frank India, Bengaluru led the sustainability index amongst the top Indian cities and ranked 14th in the entire Asia-Pacific region. In fact, the city was the only Indian city to fall under the ‘Gold’ standard category while Delhi ranked second amongst the Indian cities (17th in APAC), followed by Hyderabad (18th) and Mumbai (20th).

Bengaluru was the only Indian city to have a gold standard and ranked 14th in the top real estate in the entire Asia-Pacific Region, based on urbanisation pressure, climate change, carbon emissions, and government activities, it said.

Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director Knight Frank India, said, “New market dynamics have propelled the growth of sustainable development in India. With more and more occupiers demanding for sustainable, green and well standard buildings, we expect these features to become a universal standard, rather than a novelty, in the foreseeable future.”