First 3 quarters of 2024 witness office space leasing of 53.43 msf: Report

The first three quarters of the calendar year 2024 (January to September 2024) witnessed office space leasing of 53.43 million square feet (msf) in India, the highest ever for the period, with a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase of 27.1 per cent, as per a report by JLL, a global real estate services firm. Office space of 42.04 msf was leased during the same period in 2023.

In the third quarter of 2024 (Q3 2024), 19.89 msf of office space was leased, with Bengaluru leading the pack with a share of 24.6 per cent in the quarterly leasing activity. The city also witnessed the highest leasing activity (14.12 msf) in the first nine months of the ongoing year.

Speaking about the sector-wise trend, Samantak Das, chief economist and head of research and REIS, India, JLL, said, "Flex operators have claimed an unprecedented 22 per cent of Q3 leasing activity, surpassing traditional frontrunners like tech and banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI)."

“For the January-September 2024 period, tech led with a 24.4 per cent share, with flex accounting for a 19.2 per cent share.” BFSI and manufacturing/engineering occupied 17.8 per cent and 16.8 per cent of space, respectively.

Additionally, gross leasing for the year is estimated to be about 70 msf. Gross leasing refers to all lease transactions recorded during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments; it does not include term renewals and deals in the discussion stage.