Office Demand Soars: 33.54mn sq ft Leased in H1 2024

New Delhi, July 3 (PTI) Office demand across seven major cities hit an all-time high in the first half of this calendar year with gross leasing of 33.54 million square feet, according to JLL India.

Real estate consultant JLL India on Wednesday released the data of office demand for the January-June period of this year which saw 29 per cent annual growth in gross leasing to 33.54 million square feet across these seven cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.

"H1 2024 (January to June) marked the best-ever first half, with leasing volumes at 33.5 million sq ft, surpassing the previous highest H1 performance seen in 2019," the consultant highlighted.

Gross leasing of office space stood at 26.01 million square feet in the January-June period of 2023.

In January-June 2019, the gross leasing of office space stood at 30.71 million square feet, but the numbers fell to 21.10 million square feet in January-June 2020 and 12.55 million square feet in January-June 2021 due to a slowdown in demand because of the COVID pandemic.

The office demand bounced back post-COVID. In January-June 2022, the gross office leasing stood at 24.68 million square feet.

Gross leasing refers to all lease transactions recorded during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments, but does not include term renewals. Deals in the discussion stage are not included.

"2024 projected to mark record-breaking gross leasing of 65-70 million sq. ft, setting the stage for a historic milestone in the country's commercial real estate market," JLL India projected.