With the festive season falling in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2012, Ahmedabad office market is set to witness fresh infusion of supply. According to real estate consulting firm Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) latest report on 'office snapshot', estimates a fresh supply of 367,000 sq ft in the last quarter of the year.
"Ahmedabad is expected to witness a supply of approximately 367,000 sq ft in the last quarter of the year. This is likely to result in a downward pressure on rentals due to prevailing high Grade A vacancy levels. However, limited vacancy in locations like CG Road and Ashram Road could result in a trend of stable to increasing rental values in these locations," the report states.
In the third quarter this year, Ahmedabad's office absorption grew substantially by 81 per cent, despite market slowdown.
According to the report, after low levels of absorption during the previous quarters, Ahmedabad recorded a growth of approximately 81 per cent in absorption. The total absorption for this quarter was 316,000 sq ft (sq ft) of Grade A space. SG Highway witnessed close to 66 per cent of the total absorption while Prahladnagar witnessed around 33 per cent.
Crediting India's GDP grew at 5.5 per cent during April to June 2012 as compared to 7.7 per cent during the same period last year, the report states that the market slowdown in the GDP growth rate was mainly due to the poor economic performance of the manufacturing, mining and agriculture sectors. On the other hand, sectors such as construction, financial and social services have shown a gradual upward trend.
"According to the revised government growth forecasts, GDP of the country is expected to climb to 6.5 per cent by end of 2012. However, most experts have put forth estimates varying from 5.5-6.5 per cent for the year. Recently, the RBI had cut the Cash Reserve Ratio by 0.25 per cent to introduce some more liquidity into the systems, but held the policy rates due to their concern over the inflationary pressures prevailing in the economy. Meanwhile, the Central Government has committed to introducing measures related to FDI in multi-brand retail, aviation and broadcast sectors," the report states.