New Delhi: Delhi-NCR has highest vacancy of office space at 28.5 percent, while Pune has the lowest at 8.5 percent because of higher demand of premium workspace from IT/ITeS sector, according to property consultant Anarock. As per the data of Grade-A office buildings across seven major cities of the country, Chennai has an office vacancy of 10.35 percent, Bengaluru 11.25 percent and Hyderabad 15 percent.
Office vacancies in NCR are the highest among the top 7 cities at 28.5 percent, followed by Kolkata at 23.5 percent and MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) about 16 percent, Anarock said in a statement. IT hubs Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad have lower Grade A office vacancies. "IT/ITeS remained one of the most buoyant sectors during the pandemic. This sector helped India's top four IT/ITeS-driven cities to keep Grade A office vacancies firmly in check," Anarock said.
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In contrast, cities like NCR, MMR and Kolkata, with significant office demand also coming from non-IT sectors such as BFSI and manufacturing/industrial, recorded higher office vacancies. Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri said: "NCR currently with the highest vacancy levels has approx. 26 million square feet of planned or under-construction office stock, while MMR has just 15 million square feet of such inventory."
Kolkata has a mere 2 million square feet of planned or under-construction office stock. The cities with lower office vacancy levels currently have 108 million square feet of cumulative planned/under construction Grade A office stock. Of this, Hyderabad and Bengaluru have about 40 million square feet each planned or under construction. Chennai has 15 million square feet in the pipeline, and Pune has 13 million square feet.
"The IT/ITeS sectors boomed during the pandemic. While most companies operated in WFH mode, many large and mid-sized corporates decided to hold on to their office spaces," Puri said. At between Rs 58 and Rs 78 per square feet per month, the average monthly office rentals in all four IT/ITeS driven cities are comparatively lower than in NCR and MMR, where they hover between Rs 80 and Rs 126 per square feet.
According to the data, Bengaluru has the maximum Grade A office stock of about 168 million square feet, followed by Delhi-NCR at 128 million square feet, MMR at 108 million square feet, Hyderabad 80 million square feet, Pune 60 million square feet, Chennai 55 million square feet and Kolkata 25 million square feet. Anarock is one of the leading real estate consultants in the country. Its revenue stood at over Rs 400 crore in the last fiscal year. (PTI)
