Total leasing of office space in January jumps 93% across 7 major cities: JLL

The total leasing of office space, which comprises demand for all grades of buildings, rose 93 per cent year-on-year in January to 3.2 million square feet across seven major cities, according to property consultant JLL India.

However, the leasing fell 56 per cent, compared to December 2022, which had seen 7.4 million square feet office space absorption.

In January 2022, the aggregate leasing activities stood at 1.7 million square feet.

The aggregate office market leasing activities refer to transactions for all grades or types of buildings in the top seven cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata).

The data includes confirmed pre-commitments and term renewals. Deals in the discussion stage are not included.

JLL India said that fresh leasing, which included expansion and relocation-driven space take-up accounted for 87 per cent of all recorded transactions during the last month.

"The month of January is typically a slow period, as the holiday season for global corporates and future business planning take precedence. Mostly deals that slipped due to certain reasons get concluded during this month," JLL India said.

In January 2023, the top three cities in that order were Delhi NCR, Chennai, and Mumbai, accounting for 77 per cent of monthly leasing activity.

"IT sector is presently facing slower employment and sluggish corporate growth expectations. As a result, space take-up may be more benign as part of a course correction," said Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research, India, JLL.

Given the evolving global economic scenario, he said other occupier categories are anticipated to maintain steady state, although with a minor downward bias in the short-term.

As per the data, the IT/ITeS category still remained the largest driver of overall market activity in January, accounting for 28 per cent of total market activity.

According to the JLL data, India's office Grade A (premium) stock stood at 732 million square feet at the end of March 2022.

The office stocks of other grades were 370 million square feet, taking the total stock to around 1.1 billion square feet.