Indian Cities Realty Resurgence in Q4

Office markets in the top eight cities of India recorded transactions of 22.2 mn sq ft in the July December 2020 period, whereas new completions were recorded at 17.2 mn sq ft in the same period. The transactions grew by a massive 271 per cent in Q4 2020 to 17.5 mn sq

BY Realty Plus
Published - Friday, 08 Jan, 2021

Office markets in the top eight cities of India recorded transactions of 22.2 mn sq ft in the July December 2020 period, whereas new completions were recorded at 17.2 mn sq ft in the same period. The transactions grew by a massive 271 per cent in Q4 2020 to 17.5 mn sq ft as against 4.7 mn sq ft in Q3 2020. Pre-commitments contributed 24 per cent of the total transacted volume of 1.63 mn sq m (17.5 mn sq ft) in Q4 2020, according to Knight Frank India, in its latest report, India Real Estate: H2 2020. The year began on a high note with office leasing achieving 96 per cent of the quarterly average of 2019 in Q1 2020. However, the government-imposed lockdown to combat the pandemic, led to temporary economic inactivity and translated into a sharp fall in office leasing activities in Q2 2020. With the return to normality, gross leasing revived to 31 per cent of the quarterly average of 2019 in Q3 2020, eventually surging to a staggering 115 per cent in Q4 2020. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai saw a spike in QoQ transacted volumes during Q4 2020 at 459 per cent, 640 per cent, 919 per cent and 227 per cent respectively. Vacancy levels have been the lowest in markets such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru. In terms of the share of sectoral occupiers, information technology (IT/ITeS) sector including data centres dominated with a 41 per cent share in H2 2020, followed by BSFI and manufacturing sectors with 16 per cent each, while other services and co-working sectors recorded 17 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.