Demand for office space in Bangalore to be at 6.3 mn sq ft in 2014, says report

Bangalore is expected to see the second highest demand for office space at 6.3 million sq ft in the Asia-Pacific region in 2014, according to a report by international property consultant Cushman and Wakefield.

Tokyo is set to see the highest office absorption among 30 cities in Asia in 2014 at 7.6 million sq ft, the report noted. Manila has taken the third position among the 30 cities in Asia at six million sq ft and the Delhi national capital region is at the sixth place with expected office space absorption at 3.7 million sq ft.

Bangalore will also witness the highest demand in India owing to expansion of IT, ITeS and multi-national companies.

Office demand is likely to reach 60 million sq ft in all 30 major cities tracked within Asia-Pacific, the report noted.

“Demand for commercial office space will strengthen in 2014 and 2015. The oversupply situation, which most cities across the country are witnessing, will ease from 2014 onwards as economic conditions improve domestically and globally,” said Sanjay Dutt, executive managing director of Cushman and Wakefield.

“With a more favourable dollar to rupee exchange rate and the improvement in global economic scenario, we expect the industry to benefit in terms of increase in exports of IT services from India," Dutt added.

An expected improvement in the overall economic condition in the second half of 2014 would result in companies undertaking more expansion activities, which will propel the demand for office space. Net absorption is likely to increase by 31 per cent over 2013 at 29.5 million sq ft. The cities to record most of the net absorption will be similar to 2013, with Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Pune leading the pack.

There is an increased interest by private equity players for projects with strong fundamentals and Bangalore remains a bright spot in India for foreign investors.