The listing of India’s first REIT by Blackstone-backed Embassy Group has been in the offing for quite some time, but it now finally appears that it will be listed within the first half of 2019. As REITs await their official deployment in India, investors hoping to cash on this new avenue for generous ROI growth seek to understand what exactly is in store for them – and for the real estate market.
India witnessed a robust demand for office spaces in Q3 2018, recording approximately 12.3 million sq ft of gross absorption, indicating a 23% growth over the corresponding period last year. As a result of rising demand coupled with lowering vacancies in premium Grade A buildings, the office rental values have recorded an increase in select micro markets across cities.
The gross leasing activity in India was recorded at 36.4 million sq ft for the first nine months of 2018, up 26% YoY. Pan-India demand for Grade A office space was driven by the technology sector (48%) in Q3 2018, followed by banking and insurance representing 19% of the total leasing volume.
Indian cities witnessed a strong office demand in Q2 2018, with about 12.6 million sq ft of gross absorption recorded, indicating a 10% QoQ growth in office leasing activity.
As per Colliers International, the overall absorption for H1 2018 now stands at ~ 24 million sq ft. Bengaluru (Bangalore) continued to account for the highest share of absorption at 34% in Q2, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) at 28%, Mumbai at 14%, Hyderabad and Chennai at 8% each, Pune at 6%, and Kolkata at 2%.
The first quarter of 2018 has started on a positive note with a 23% YoY increase in the gross office take-up in India. As per Colliers International, approximately 11.4 million sq ft (1.02 million sq m) of gross absorption was recorded in Q1 2018.
With about 10 million sq ft (0.9 million sq m) of office leasing in Q3, gross absorption totalled around 28.9 million sq ft (2.7 million sq m) over the first nine months.
A high rental growth was seen mostly in South cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad where y-o-y change ranged between 8-17% at some locations. In H1 2017, Bengaluru and Hyderabad both witnessed single digit vacancy levels hovering between 8-9% due to a dearth of quality Grade A stock, thus leading to increased rental values in some micro markets.
Delhi-NCR based Central Park is venturing into commercial real estate with an investment of about INR 2,000 crore. Central Park will develop a 40 lakh sq ft mixed-use project in Sector 67, Noida which is also its first project in Noida.
Despite delayed implication of demonetisation and recent layoffs by technology companies, due to automation and changing technology, commercial market continued to remain resilient, backed by sustained expansion plans of the major occupiers. The Gross office take-up in India amounted to 9.6 mn sq ft (882,800 sq m) in Q2 2017 representing a nominal 2% increase Q-o-Q from 9.3 mn sq ft (Total office absorption in H1 2017 stands at ~18.9 mn sq ft, as per Colliers Research marginally down by 2% from, H1 2016)