Office space leasing doubles to 8.8 mn sft across 7 cities in July

New Delhi: Total office space leasing in July jumped over twofold annually across seven cities to 8.8 million square feet, according to JLL India.

Real estate consultant JLL India in its 'Aggregate Monthly Office Lease Tracker' said the total leasing stood at 3.9 million square feet in July last year and 5.8 million square feet in the previous month. The aggregate market leasing activity refers to lease transactions for all grades or types of office buildings in the top seven cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata), including confirmed pre-commitments and term renewals.

Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi-NCR remained the top three cities with a cumulative share of 85 per cent in the July 2022 monthly leasing activity tracker. "Around 2.27 million square feet of the aggregate monthly leasing activity was on account of renewals, highlighting the long-term occupier confidence in India and the physical workplace being central to the evolving portfolio strategies," the report said.

Tech occupiers were key drivers of the aggregate market leasing activity in July 2022 with an overwhelming 53 per cent share. Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) had a share of 18 per cent. The demand for office space has improved with the opening of offices after the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 and 2021 calendar years, office space leasing was badly impacted because of the pandemic.