Riding on strong industry fundamentals and demand, grade A office space in India crossed a landmark 700 million square feet in the first quarter of 2023 with the segment set to touch 1 billion square feet by 2030, a new report released jointly by realty developers’ body Credai and and property data analysis platform CRE Matrix revealed on Thursday.
The co-working segment within the larger category also crossed its own milepost touching 50 million square feet, contributing to about 7 per cent of total office inventory in select top 6 cities of India. “It is a testament to the evolving nature of the workplace and the increasing demand for flexible and collaborative work environments,” said Credai president Boman Irani.
Overall, 2023 is expected to witness leasing demand for over 45 million square feet of office space in the top six cities, with Bengaluru and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region leading the wave in the second half of the year. Demand exceeded supply in both the regions in the first quarter with the two regions together accounting for 55 per cent of overall demand.
This comes despite higher growth rentals signed in Q1 2023, which saw a rise of 5% from the average Rs 92 per square feet across the top 6 cities. This is reportedly the second highest surge in the last 10 quarters.
Furthermore, IT/ITes, BFSI industries have witnessed a rise in demand for expansion led by the requirement from startups and global capacity centers. Vacancy in the top six cities plummeted to 16.7 per cent, which is pegged as the lowest in the last six quarters.