Office space leasing up 21 pc at 21.8 mn sq ft in Jan-Jun; may hit record 42 mn sq ft in 2019: JLL

Net office space leasing rose 21 per cent to 21.8 million sq ft across seven major cities during the first six months of this year and is expected to touch a record 42 million sq ft in the full year on strong demand from corporates and co-working players, according to property consultant JLL India.

Office space leasing stood at 18.1 million sq ft during January-June period of 2018 across seven cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata.

"Net absorption across the top seven cities touched nearly 22 million sq ft, indicating optimism amongst occupiers with continuity of governance and a stable government. A ramp-up by co-working players (15 per cent of overall leasing) and occupiers in the IT/ITeS space (37 per cent of overall leasing) drove the strong growth in demand," JLL said in a statement.

The consultant pegged the net absorption at record 42 mn sq ft in 2019.

"The current business scenario offers a favourable expansion environment to occupiers. Moreover, it also offers investors the option to look at maximizing their returns through investment into completed properties under REIT (real estate investment trust) ," said Ramesh Nair, CEO & Country Head, JLL India.

The REIT listings by Embassy-Blackstone Group company clearly suggests that the commercial real estate in the country has matured and evolved in the past decade, post the global financial crisis, he said, but added there was still a dearth of investment-worthy properties in the country.