Office leasing for all grades of buildings down 25% in Aug annually: Report

The total leasing of office space for all grades of buildings fell 25% in August across seven major cities to 3.9 million square feet as against same month last year on lower demand

The total leasing of office space for all grades of buildings fell 25 per cent in August across seven major cities to 3.9 million square feet as against same month last year on lower demand, according to property consultant JLL India.

The aggregate office market leasing activities refer to transactions for all grades or types of buildings in the top 7 cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata). The data includes confirmed pre-commitments and term renewals. Deals in the discussion stage are not included.

Total office leasing activities stood at 5.2 million square feet in August 2021.

"Overall market traction was slower in the month of August 2022, down by 25 per cent y-o-y (year-on-year) at 3.9 million square feet, mostly due to lower pre-commitments," JLL said in a report.

The leasing in August fell 56 per cent from 8.8 million square feet in July this year.

Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru were the top three cities, accounting for three-fourth of all leasing activities in the August 2022 monthly leasing activity tracker.

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.