Office space leasing in Delhi-NCR drops 25% annually in Jan-Mar: Vestian

The office space leasing in Delhi-NCR fell 25 per cent annually to 18.1 lakh square feet in January-March this year on lower demand from corporates, according to real estate consultant Vestian.

The office space absorption stood at 24 lakh square feet in the year-ago period.

The leasing of office space in Delhi-NCR dropped 40 per cent from 30 lakh square feet in the October-December quarter.

The real estate consultant on Saturday released the data for office leasing across the top seven major cities. Office absorption increased 13 per cent to 134 lakh sq ft in January-March 2024 from 118.5 lakh square feet in the year-ago period.

However, the absorption declined by 31 per cent during the first quarter of this year after peaking in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Vestian CEO Shrinivas Rao said, "2024 started on a positve note, as major office markets of India witnessed sustained absorption activities".

"Return to office mandates are likely to renew demand for office spaces across the country and may drive the next wave of growth amid global headwinds," Rao added.

Southern cities (Bengaluru, Chennai, and Hyderabad) accounted for 61 per cent of the Pan-India absorption in Q1 2024.

Their combined share increased from 54 per cent a year earlier.

Moreover, the IT-ITeS sector dominated absorption with 47 per cent share, followed by the BFSI sector with 11 per cent share.

Flexible spaces garnered interest from large conglomerates post-pandemic, accounting for 8 per cent of the pan-India absorption in Q1 2024.

In Bengaluru, office leasing declined to 26.2 lakh square feet in January-March this year from 33 lakh square feet in the year-ago period.

In Chennai, the leasing of office demand doubled to 33.5 lakh square feet from 16 lakh square feet.

Office leasing in Hyderabad rose to 22.7 lakh square feet from 15 lakh square feet.

In Mumbai, the office space absorption doubled to 24.9 lakh square feet from 12 lakh square feet.

Kolkata saw a decline in leasing to 1.6 lakh square feet from 3.5 lakh square feet.

The office leasing in Pune declined to 7.1 lakh square feet during January-March 2024 from 15 lakh square feet in the year-ago period.