South cities dominate office leasing; share rises to 66 pc in FY21

The main Southern office market has overtaken other regions in terms of new supply, net absorption, and even rental growth. Among the top 7 cities, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai saw their share of total office leasing increase to 66% in FY21 (against 47% in FY18). The net office absorption in FY21 in the top cities was 21.32 mn sq. ft., and these three southern cities absorbed approx. 14.06 mn sq. ft. MMR and Pune absorbed 4.56 mn sq.ft (21%) and NCR 2.3 mn sq.ft (a mere 11% share.)

In FY18, 31.15 mn sq. ft. of office space were leased in the top 7 cities. Of this net absorption, the Southern cities collectively accounted for 47%, the Western region 33% and the Northern region 17%.

Source: ANAROCK Research

In terms of new office supply too, the Southern cities continued to ramp up their share – from 40% in FY18 to nearly 63% in FY21. Of the total new office space completion of 40.25 mn sq. ft. in FY21 across the top 7 cities, the Southern cities had a 63% share (approx. 25.55 mn sq. ft.). The office supply share of the main Western markets shrank to just 19% in FY21 (from 40% in FY18.)

Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Group says, “The remarkable growth in the office market of these three Southern cities when viewed against their Western and Northern counterparts is directly attributable to robust demand by the IT/ITeS sector, affordable rentals, and the exponential growth of start-ups locally over the past few years. The manufacturing and industrial sectors are also driving demand here.”

Source: ANAROCK Research

Rental Growth

Notably, between FY18 and FY21, office rentals in each of the southern cities have also shown double-digit growth. In this period, office rentals in NCR remained more or less stagnant while MMR and Pune saw a mere 2% and 8% rental growth respectively.

Source: ANAROCK Research

• In Bengaluru, average monthly office rentals were INR 67 per sq. ft. in FY18 – they increased to INR 77 per sq. ft. in FY21 (up 15%)
• In Chennai, average monthly rentals stood at INR 54 per sq. ft. in FY18 – they rose to INR 60 per sq. ft. in FY21 (up 11%)
• In Hyderabad, average monthly office rentals rose from INR 51 per sq. ft. in FY18 to nearly INR 57 per sq. ft. in FY21 (up 12%)
• In MMR, average monthly rentals increased from INR 123 per sq. ft. in FY18 to INR 125 per sq. ft. in FY21 (up by just 2%)
• Pune saw average rentals rise from INR 63 per sq. ft. in FY18 to INR 68 per sq. ft. in in FY21 (up 8%)
• In NCR, average office rentals remained unchanged in both years at INR 78 per sq. ft