Retail space leasing in malls, high street up 45% in Jul-Sep: Report

Leasing of retail spaces in shopping malls and prominent high streets rose 45 per cent in July-September across eight major cities on better demand for retailers and fresh supply, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield on Wednesday released the 'Retail Marketbeat Report, which showed that the gross leasing volume (GLV) increased to 2.41 million square feet across the top 8 cities during the July-September quarter against 1.66 million square feet in the year-ago period.

"India's retail sector continues its growth trajectory, driven by evolving consumer preferences and growing demand for quality retail spaces," said Gautam Saraf, Executive Managing Director - Mumbai & New Business at Cushman & Wakefield.

As per the data, leasing of retail spaces in Mumbai more than doubled to 0.59 million sq ft from 0.22 million sq ft . Pune too saw 85 per cent growth in leasing to 0.33 million sq ft from 0.18 million sq ft.

In Delhi-NCR, leasing rose 87 per cent to 0.51 million sq ft from 0.27 million sq ft, while absorption of retail spaces increased 3.5 per cent in Hyderabad to 0.51 million sq ft from 0.49 million sq ft.

On the trend, realty major DLF's Vice Chairman and MD (Rental Business) Sriram Khattar said, the leasing was high in the September quarter because of the base effect and near completion of the new malls.

"On a larger canvas, consumption has improved. Shoppers are looking for better and fulfilling experiences rather than just the product. We, at DLF, continuously work on the premiumisation of our offerings and enhance the shoppers' experience at our malls. We look at the future with cautious optimism," Khattar added.

Nexus Select Malls President (Leasing) Nirzar Jain noted that the strong leasing momentum being reported across India reflects the renewed confidence of global and domestic brands in India's consumption story.

"We are consciously keeping select spaces open across our key malls to accommodate new-to-India brands," he said.

S K Sayal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Real Estate, said that retail leasing in India is witnessing robust momentum, supported by strong fundamentals such as rising consumer confidence, evolving lifestyles, and the growth of experience-led formats.

Pacific Group Managing Director Abhishek Bansal attributed the growth in leasing of retail space in Delhi-NCR to a fresh supply of retail spaces. He said the demand for quality spaces from domestic and overseas retailers remains high.

Nimish Arora, MD of Aarone Group, said the surge in retail leasing reflects India's expanding middle class and the strong confidence retailers have in the consumption story.

"Also, with the rise of D2C brands now wanting to move offline is also expanding the retailer ecosystem," he added.

Arora added that a lot of this growth is also driven by the retail projects that started construction post-COVID and are now reaching completion, adding quality space to an underserved market.

As per the Cushman & Wakefield data, Ahmedabad saw a 27 per cent decline in leasing to 0.06 million sq ft from 0.09 million sq ft.

In Bengaluru , leasing activities fell 13 per cent to 0.18 million sq ft from 0.20 million sq ft.

However, leasing in Chennai rose 8 per cent to 0.16 million sq ft from 0.15 million sq ft.

In Kolkata, the leasing of retail spaces increased by 12 per cent to 0.06 million sq ft during July-September this year against 0.05 million sq ft in the corresponding period of the preceding year.