Mumbai set to witness spurt in office realty: JLL

A recent study by property consultant JLL revealed that India's financial capital Mumbai is among the top five cities globally that will see the maximum addition to its office footprint over the next 18 months. Around 16 million sq ft could be added during this period to the current total of Grade - A offices in the city, that is 109 million sq ft as per construction schedules announced by developers. There's a probability of delays, based on historic trends, in which case the supply figure could be around 13 million sq ft, which is also significant and indicates a robust demand pipeline. The city is expected to add up to 14% of its current stock during this period to grow its office space stock. Mumbai ranks after Shanghai, Mexico City and Beijing, among the 99 cities studied globally by JLL. “While Mumbai's supply pipeline consists of office projects launched years ago, it remains to be seen whether they would all get constructed over the next 18 months. Also, the supply pipeline could dry up in the existing business districts over the next 2-3 years while a major chunk would co me up in the emerging business districts and will, therefore, not help much,” said Ashutosh Limaye, National Director & Head -Research, JLL India. For instance, a closer look at the core Bandra-Kurla Complex area and secondary business district of Lower Parel and Elphinstone Road reveals that only 2.5 million sq ft -out of the 13-16 million sq ft that will enter the market through 2018 -would be in the key demand areas while an overwhelming majority of the rest will come up in upcoming locations.