NEW DELHI: There were fewer takers of office space in first half of 2016 in India impacting key markets of Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune, according to real estate consultancy Cushman and Wakefield. However, markets like Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Ahmedabad bucked the trend and grew at a healthy pace. It said that the net absorption of office space saw a declined by 18 per cent across the top eight cities in the first half of 2016.
The report mentioned that there was a significant drop in absorption levels in Chennai (minus 51 per cent), Pune (minus 41 per cent), Mumbai (minus 36 per cent) and Bangalore (minus 34 per cent) in the first half of 2016. However in the same period, Hyderabad saw a rise in net absorption growing by 55 per cent in H1 2016. Delhi-NCR, Ahmedabad and Kolkata too saw positive apdoption rates of 39, 27 and 10 per cent respectively.
“Improving business climate and the Telangana government’s efforts to create more visibility for Brand Hyderabad led to the city witnessing a steep rise in net absorption in H1 2016 to 2.9 million square feet (msf), a 55 per cent increase from corresponding period last year,” said Cushman and Wakefield. It said that the city continues to witness strong demand for space from IT-Information Technology enabled services and technology companies, net absorption during April-June period stood at roughly 1.7 million square feet, of which 70 per cent came in the form of previously recorded pre-commitments by IT-ITeS companies.
The report said that competitive rentals in the city, quality infrastructure and a proactive government have been attracting global companies to increasingly prefer to set up offices in the city. “The first half of the year has been a mixed bag for the key markets with large volume locations like Bangalore and Mumbai seeing a drop in net absorption owing to slower take up of space by Information Technology/ Information Technology Enabled Services and Banking, Financial services and Insurance sectors,” said Anshul Jain, Managing Director, India Cushman and Wakefield.
