KOCHI: Kochi’s total office space leasing stood at 0.02 million sq.ft in previous fiscal quarter, driven by flexible space operators, who occupied 57 per cent of the total office space leased out, and tech companies (43 per cent).
The stats were announced by CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd, a realty consulting firm, on Thursday, in its latest office report titled ‘CBRE India Office Figures Q1 2022’. It observed that the office sector in India continued to witness robust recovery in 2022. Leasing activity grew by 97 per cent, as compared with the same period last year, to touch 11.4 million sq.ft.
Among office space providers across India, Bengaluru would continue domination, followed by Hyderabad and the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), which would drive close to 70 per cent of the total completions in 2022, the report said.
Meanwhile, space supply in special economic zones would be led by Hyderabad, Kochi and Delhi-NCR. Non-SEZ supply would be led by Bengaluru, followed by Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad.
Office space take-up
As in 2021, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR were expected to continue to drive transaction activity in 2022, the report noted.
However, the overall office supply witnessed in 2022 first quarter was around 9.4 million sq.ft -- a dip of around 11 per cent, when compared with last year. Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai dominated development completions, accounting for a cumulative share of about 70 per cent.
“With the government’s evolving Covid-19 protocols and the recovery in office leasing in 2021, we expect the positive momentum to further strengthen in 2022. We continue to witness a pickup in long-term decision-making by occupiers, aided by ‘return-to-work’ strategies, thereby accelerating project completions,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and CEO - India, CBRE.
CBRE India head (operations) Ameeth Raja said, with flex and tech players driving absorption, and increased enquiry levels, accelerated expansion was expected in Kerala’s office markets.