Total office space leasing in May jumps nearly 3-fold across seven cities: JLL

 

 

The total office leasing activities across seven cities rose nearly three-fold during the last month to 6.1 million square feet as demand improved with the opening of workplaces, according to property consultant JLL India.

The aggregate office market leasing activities, which refers to lease transactions for all grades of office buildings, stood at 2.2 million square feet in May 2021, when the second wave of the COVID pandemic had badly hit the demand.

The total or gross leasing of office spaces rose 28 per cent from 4.8 million square feet in April 2022 across

seven major cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

The aggregate leasing data includes confirmed pre-commitments and term renewals.

Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai had a cumulative share of 91 per cent in monthly leasing activity for May 2022.

According to the JLL data, India's office Grade A (premium) stock stood at 732 million square feet at the end of the March quarter.

The office stocks of other grades were 370 million square feet, taking the total stock to around 1.1 billion square feet.

When asked about the sharp rise in leasing activities during May 2022, Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS, India, JLL, said the improvement in total market demand traction indicates the resilience of office markets as well as the fact that physical workplaces continue to remain central to firms' real estate plans.

“A period of the relative ease with low COVID infections, high vaccination rate, full opening of economic activities and no restrictions on movement allowed occupiers to approach real estate planning with more certainty,” he added.