According to JLL India, net office space leasing grew by 40% across seven major cities in India, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata, thanks to coworking operators and IT/ITeS firms.
“India office market has set a new benchmark and recorded a historic high, both in net absorption and new completions,” JLL said in a statement. “While 46.5 million square feet of space got absorbed, nearly 52 million square feet of Grade A office space was completed in 2019.”
Additionally, new supply rose 45% to 51.6 million square feet, while vacancy dropped to 13%. The report revealed that the expansion of coworking providers has led to a huge growth in demand.
Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad accounted for close to 70% of the net absorption in 2019. While Mumbai saw a drop of 2% year-on-year in net absorption despite strong demand from large occupiers, Hyderabad saw a net absorption of 10.5 million square feet.
Ramesh Nair, CEO and Country Head at JLL India, said that looking forward developers will focus more on quality, technical upgrades, smart buildings and wellness offerings.