Office space demand may go up to 55 mn sft this year

Hyderabad: Office space demand in India's six major cities will remain healthy this year as domestic and foreign firms are expected to lease 50-55 million square feet area to expand their businesses, according to a FICCI-Colliers report. Gross leasing of office space stood at 58.2 million square feet across six major cities namely Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

Industry body FICCI and real estate consultant Colliers India earlier this week released its report 'India Office: Repurposed to scale-up'. The report has given three scenarios for office demand forecast - optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic. In a realistic scenario, the gross leasing of Grade-A office space is estimated at 50-55 million square feet this year across these six cities. The demand could go up to 55-60 million square feet in an optimistic scenario, while the leasing numbers could drop to 45-50 million square feet in a pessimistic scenario.

"India's office space demand is likely to breach the 50 million square feet mark for the third consecutive time in 2024, firmly establishing the new benchmark in commercial real estate," said Arpit Mehrotra, Managing Director, Head of Office services, Colliers India. The office market continues to demonstrate persistent dynamism, he said.

"Domestic origin companies are likely to contribute almost half of the anticipated office space uptake in 2024," Mehrorta said. The Grade A office space leasing by domestic origin occupiers has been witnessing significant momentum in recent years, with its share in total leasing rising from 34 per cent in 2019 to almost 50 per cent in 2023, the report highlighted.