New Delhi: The gross office leasing activity jumped more than two times at 18.7 million sq ft in second quarter of 2019, as compared to just 9.2 million sq ft in the same period last year in the top cities of the country according to a report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield India.
The net absorption of office spaces too more than doubled at 14.1 million sq ft in the period as compared to 6.3 million sq ft in the corresponding period last year in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi NCR.
Gross leasing volume jumped more than three times in Mumbai to touch 3.42 million sq ft in the second quarter of 2019 as compared to mere 0.9 million sq ft in the second quarter of 2018. In Hyderabad, the gross leasing volume went up almost five times in the same period. It touched 2.57 million sq ft in second quarter of 2019 from juts 0.48 million sq ft in the same period last year.
The net absorption of office spaces in Mumbai went up from mere 0.05 million sq ft to 1.57 million sq ft. The net absorption in Hyderabad jumped from 1.13 million sq ft to 5.88 million sq ft in the same period.
“The second quarter of 2019 saw leasing activity at a high of 18 million sq ft, dominated by a strong showing of the IT-BPM sector, followed by captives and flex workspaces even as pre-leasing activity and term renewals saw a surge. The push of new supply build-out that picked up in 2015-16 is visible in heightened completions that are also supporting the surge in office space take-up. We remain on track to surpass the historic highs in leasing activity seen in 2018 which also bodes well for overall job creation in the white-collar job market,” said Anshul Jain, Country Head & Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield India.