Office space take-up by corporates in the first nine months of the 2015 calendar year rose to 30 million sq ft, 11% more than 27 million sq ft in the same period last year, according to a new report by property consultancy Colliers International.
The consultancy anticipates the momentum to continue in the coming quarters.
“With a number of deals at advance stages, we anticipate momentum in office market to continue. Cities like Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Mumbai is set to witness maximum office uptake in the coming quarter,” said Surabhi Arora, associate director – research at Colliers India.
Corporates leased around 10.6 million sq ft of office space in the September quarter this year, a marginal rise from 10.5 million sq ft in the previous quarter.
Gurgaon marched ahead of Bengaluru and Mumbai in terms of office absorption, accounting for 23% of the total space absorbed across India in the September quarter, followed by Chennai at 20%, Bengaluru at 18%, Mumbai at 15%, Noida at 11%, Pune at 9%, Delhi at 4% and Kolkata grabbing 2% share.
Gurgaon witnessed an 18% QoQ rise in office absorption to 2.1 million sq ft in the September 2015 quarter, totalling to about 4.9 million sq ft till September this year, backed by demand from the IT/ITeS sector, which grabbed 60% share. The banking and financial services industry followed with 20%.
NH 8 (National Highway 8) remained the most preferred micro market in Gurgaon, sharing about 29% of total office absorption, followed by Golf Course Road 25% and Udyog Vihar 21%.
“Due to location advantages and affordable rents, micro markets like Udyog Vihar, institutional sectors and NH8 will continue to garner the occupiers’ interest,” Arora said.
Mumbai recorded a total of 5.95 million sq ft of office space absorbed till September this year, with about 1.4 million sq ft leased in the September quarter. Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) remained the most preferred location with 32% of total office absorption, followed by Western Suburbs (Dadar, Goregaon, Andheri and Jogeshwari) at 28% and Central Mumbai (Worli, Dadar, Lower Parel) at 17%.
Bengaluru recorded 1.6 million sq ft of office absorption in the September quarter, taking the total to over 8 million sq ft in the first nine months this year. IT/ITeS companies leased 56% of the office space in the September quarter, followed by manufacturing at 16% and BFSI at 10%.
While cities like Chennai, Delhi and Noida recorded a rise in office absorption in the September quarter to 1.82 million sq ft, 0.33 million sq ft and 0.98 million sq ft, respectively, Pune and Kolkata witnessed a drop of 55% and 30% to 0.83 million sq ft and 0.2 million sq ft, respectively.
