HYDERABAD: Hyderabad’s office market has exhibited signs of sustained recovery with net absorption increasing continuously over the past three quarters, revealed a JLL report. In Q4 2020, net absorption stood at 2.83 mn sft, a jump of 83 per cent over the previous quarter. This was backed by new completions during the quarter getting operational with full occupancy. “It is important to note that this is at par with the average quarterly levels witnessed in the historic year of 2019. Hitec City and Gachibowli continued to attract occupiers, accounting for a major chunk of the leasing activity,” read the report.
“Hyderabad has recorded new completions of 3.72 mn sft, a jump of 12 per cent over the previous quarter. In sync with net absorption, Hitec City and Gachibowli accounted for all of the new completions. New completions as well as net absorption is expected to further increase in the next two quarters as major projects, which have been fully pre-committed, are expected to get operational,” Sandip Patnaik, managing director and head of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, JLL, said. As the year witnessed occupiers resorting to space- and cost-optimisation strategies, the vacancy levels in the city continued to rise in Q4 2020. Rentals have largely remained range-bound across most of the sub-markets during the quarter.
India’s office market continues to recover
The country’s office market continues to recover, witnessing a net absorption of 8.27 million sft, an increase of 52 per cent in Q4 2020 (Oct-Nov-Dec) as compared to Q3 2020. Except for Bengaluru, the net absorption of office spaces improved in the other six cities (Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune), according to JLL Research. Hyderabad led the pack with the highest net absorption in Q4 2020. While the southern markets of Bengaluru and Hyderabad accounted for over 50 per cent of the net absorption in Q4 2020, the maximum increase (when compared to Q3 2020) was witnessed in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Chennai. Kolkata also witnessed a strong resurgence albeit on a lower base.