The absorption of office space continues its slide in the top cities, with exceptions in Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, which are the only ones recording a rise in absorption levels, finds the real-estate consultancy firm Cushman and Wakefield.
Together, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad witnessed 35%, 33.7% and 5.6% absorption levels respectively. In fact, there was a rise by 140% in pre-commitments compared to the previous quarter and by 41% compared to the same quarter last year.
Bengaluru recorded the highest pre-commitments of 2.9 million sqft (msf) followed by Delhi-NCR (0.45 msf) and Chennai (0.1 msf).
Mumbai witnessed the highest rise in absorption level at 35%, primarily due to a significant increase in space necessitated by the expansion of banking, finance, service and insurance (BSFI) sectors. This included big deals ranging between 100,000-300,000 sqft being registered in the city.
The first quarter of the 2012 noted absorption across top eight cities at 7 million sqft registering a decline of 32% over last quarter and 6% over the same period last year.
Bengalurunoted the highest absorption at 2.45 msf, though lower than last quarter it was 17% higher than the first quarter last year. On the other hand, Delhi-NCR saw one of the lowest absorption level recorded at 0.55 msf, due to cautious approach of companies.
But, supply could well exceed demand in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai, as they have a strong pipeline of under-construction inventory, while Bengaluru is expected to witness the strongest demand.
