Kolkata office leasing jumps 69pc in 2019: Report

Office leasing in Kolkata jumped 69 per cent to 1.35 million square feet in the 2019 calendar year, real estate consultant Knight Frank said in a report.

The Information Techology sector led the growth in leasing, contributing nearly 50 per cent of the transactions, Knight Frank AVP (Occupier Solutions) Puskar Basu said on the sidelines of the release of 'India Real Estate: H2 2019'.

Knight Frank Kolkata Director Swapan Dutta said in 2020, office leasing will continue to grow and is expected to be around 1.5-1.6 million sq feet.

The report highlights an analysis of the residential and office market performance across eight major cities for the July-December period of last year.

"Co-working culture" is yet to take off in Kolkata as it accounted for only 3 per cent of the total space, it said.

Office supply during H2, however, increased, which led to vacancy levels rising up to 43 per cent during the period under review.

Meanhile, home launches in Kolkata fell by a significant 53 per cent year-on-year to 5,654 units in 2019, as developers are "adjusting to the registration process under the new West Bengal Housing Industry Regulatory Authority (WBHIRA)", the report said.