Office leasing up 36% in Jan-Sept; maximum rise in Ahmedabad

Office space absorption rose by 36 per cent in eight major cities to 24.23 million sq ft during the first nine months of this year as corporates leased more space for expanding their operations, a report said.
Ahmedabad witnessed the maximum surge in office space absorption as the city reported more than three-fold jump in leasing at 11,39,100 sq ft of area during January-September 2014 as against 3,56,590 sq ft in the same period last year, according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefield.
"Total net absorption of office space has been recorded at about 24 million square feet between January-September in 2014 as against the 17.7 million sq ft in same time in 2013," C&W said in a statement.

During this year till September, the consultant noted, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Hyderabad witnessed the highest increase in net absorption.
Bangalore witnessed an increase of 92 per cent in net absorption at 6.2 million sq ft, while Hyderabad saw a rise of 84 per cent at 3.8 million sq ft.
Office space absorption in Delhi-NCR went up by 36 per cent at 4.54 million sq ft during January-September period of 2014 compared with the year-ago period. Chennai and Mumbai saw a rise of 45 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

However, Pune and Kolkata office market saw a decline of 26 per cent and 19 per cent in office space leasing during the period under review.

Commenting on the report, C&W Executive Managing Director South Asia Sanjay Dutt said: "The office markets have seen a positive trend as the economic growth improved from all-time lows and business confidence strengthened. Companies have started to expand their operations."
He noted that new leases and expansion now constitute 75 per cent of the leasing activity in the country with relocations and consolidations witnessing a decline over last year.
"We will continue to see this positive momentum in the next 2-3 years with net absorption likely to outstrip new supply from the year 2016," Dutt said.