Office Demand Soars To 47 Million Sq Ft In 9 Months, At 23% YOY Growth; Bengaluru And Hyderabad Lead

Owing to a strong leasing activity, Grade A office space has soared to 46.7 msf across six cities in the country in the Q3 2024 registering 17.3 msf or 31% Year on Year growth over Q3 2023. Bengaluru and Hyderabad drove over half of the quarterly space uptake in Q3 2024.

Bengaluru (Karnataka):Grade A office space demand across top six cities in the country in the first three quarters of 2024 has jumped to 46.7 million sq ft owing to a strong leasing activity with two southern cities-Bengaluru and Hyderabad driving over half of the quarterly space uptake in Q3 2024.

Technology sector drove around one-fourth of the overall office space demand during the quarter, followed by BFSI occupiers and Flex space operators.

17.3 msf Space Take-up in Q3 2024, 31% YoY Growth

Building on the momentum in first half of the year, Q3 2024 saw space take-up to the tune of 17.3 million sq ft, a 31% year-over-year (YoY) growth. Bengaluru and Hyderabad accounted for over half of the leasing activity during this period. Bengaluru registered its highest ever leasing in any quarter at 6.3 million sq ft, continuing its dominance in the office market. Pune, notably, with 2.6 million sq ft of leasing activity, recorded 2.6X times space take-up compared to Q3 2023.

With 14.4 million sq ft of completions in Q3 2024, overall new supply too followed the demand growth trajectory, registering 33% increase YoY. Bengaluru and Hyderabad together saw 64% of the quarter’s new supply. Delhi-NCR also saw its highest quarterly supply infusion in the last 8 quarters, at 3.3 million sq ft. Within Delhi-NCR, South Delhi micro market with few significant project completions, accounted for almost 70% of the incremental supply of the city in Q3 2024.

Managing Director of Office services, India Colliers, Arpit Mehrotra said that office demand across different markets and sectors has been impressive in the last 2-3 years, aiding overall leasing reach new highs each passing year.

“Interestingly, 2024 saw consecutive quarters of high growth in demand and supply. Office space demand in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Mumbai have reached close to or surpassed 2023 demand levels in the first three quarters of 2024. Occupier confidence is reflected in continued higher uptake of large-sized deals of more than 1 lakh sq ft, accounting for 65% of total leasing in Q3 2024. Bengaluru saw 81% of its leasing through large-sized deals, while Pune followed closely with 71%, driven by the Tech and BFSI sectors,” Mehrotra said.

Office Demand Soars To 47 Million Sq Ft In 9 Months, At 23% YOY Growth; Bengaluru And Hyderabad Lead (Colliers India)

Technology & BFSI maintain lead; Flex space leasing touches new quarterly high

Technology sector drove around one-fourth of the overall office space demand during the quarter, followed by BFSI occupiers and Flex space operators. Interestingly, Bengaluru and Pune surpassed Mumbai in BFSI leasing, and accounted for 39% and 25% share respectively in overall BFSI leasing during the quarter. Flex spaces too saw significant leasing of 3.4 million sq ft in Q3 2024 and accounted for almost 20% share in overall leasing. Select micro markets such as SBD 1 in Bengaluru, Golf Course Road in Delhi NCR, CBD in Pune and SBD in Hyderabad accounted for about 54% of the leasing by flex space operators in Q3 2024.

According to Vimal Nadar, Senior Director and Head of Research, Colliers India, 2024 has already seen impressive flex space leasing, totaling to 7.9 million sq ft—a 20% year-on-year increase.

Office Demand Soars To 47 Million Sq Ft In 9 Months, At 23% YOY Growth; Bengaluru And Hyderabad Lead (Colliers India)

“Flex space recorded a new high of 3.4 million sq ft space take up during Q3 2024; surpassing the previous high of 2.6 million sq ft. Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru were the dominant flex space markets, collectively accounting for 55% of the demand this year. Notably, nearly half of the leasing by flex space operators was driven by large-sized deals exceeding 1 lakh sq ft, indicating a growing demand from large enterprises gaining scale,” Nadar said.

With demand outpacing supply, vacancy levels remained range-bound across the major markets. Overall, India vacancy continues to hover around 17% at the end of Q3 2024.