Warehousing Demand Dips in Delhi-NCR, Soars in Chennai: Vestian

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) Delhi-NCR witnessed a 77 per cent decline in leasing of warehousing and logistics spaces during January-June this year, while Chennai saw a 3-fold jump in demand, according to real estate consultant Vestian.

As per Vestian's latest Warehousing and Logistics Sector review for January-June 2024, the absorption of warehousing and logistics spaces in January-June across seven major cities rose 8 per cent to 16.6 million square feet during the first half of this year, from 15.4 million square feet in the year-ago period.

Among seven cities, Delhi-NCR reported the highest annual decline of 77 per cent at 1.1 million square feet during January-June, from 4.7 million square feet in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Similarly, the demand in Kolkata fell 65 per cent to 0.3 million sq ft from 0.8 million square feet. In Bengaluru, the leasing of warehousing spaces declined 19 per cent to 1.4 million square feet, from 1.7 million square feet.

However, the leasing of spaces in Chennai jumped to 1.5 million square feet, from 0.5 million square feet and in Hyderabad, the absorption of warehousing spaces rose 48 per cent to 1.9 million square feet, from 1.3 million square feet.

Mumbai and Pune together accounted for 63 per cent of the total absorption in H1 (January-June) 2024.

Leasing of warehousing and logistics spaces in Mumbai rose 80 per cent to 6.8 million square feet, from 3.8 million square feet. In Pune, the absorption of spaces grew 40 per cent to 3.6 million square feet in January-June 2024, from 2.6 million square feet in the corresponding period of the previous year.

According to Vestian, the warehousing and logistics properties received investments worth USD 1.6 billion in H1 2024, accounting for 42 per cent of the total institutional investment received in the real estate sector.

Shrinivas Rao, CEO, Vestian said, "As participation of foreign investors increased, availability of funds eased in the sector."

"Moreover, recent government announcements to boost infrastructure developments is likely to reduce logistics costs from 8-9 per cent to 5-6 per cent of the GDP, which in turn will lead to an increase in real estate activities in the warehousing sector," Rao added.