Led by GCCs, commercial realty leasing to touch all-time high in 2024: JLL

On the back of Global Capability Centres (GCCs), leasing of commercial real estate in India is likely to touch an all-time high of 65-70 million square feet (msf), according to real estate consultancy JLL India.

In 2023, the gross leasing of commercial real estate stood at 63 msf and 49.8 msf in 2022. Gross leasing refers to all lease transactions recorded during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments, but does

not include term renewals. It does not include deals in the discussion stage.

"We now stand at an inflexion point where India office markets are expected to move ahead given the tailwinds in the global and domestic economy conditions and India’s standing as the 'office to the world'," the consultancy said.

 

Data shared by the consultancy said that during the April-June quarter, all top seven cities in the country recorded gross leasing volumes of at least 1 msf for the first time. These include Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, and Hyderabad.

The data also showed that at 33.5 msf, India recorded the best first half of a calendar year in terms of commercial leasing in 2024. It surpassed the previous peak of 30.71 msf during January-June 2019.

In the April-June quarter this year, the gross leasing stood at 18.38 msf. It was 21 per cent higher than 15.16 msf in the January-March quarter.

Out of the total, the share of leasing by GCCs stood at 42.6 per cent. In the first half of the year, these centres account for one-third of gross leasing activity.

"India’s leadership position in the GCC ecosystem continues to remain intact, driven by high-end research and development work that supports headcount expansion opportunities for these firms, resulting in strong space demand," said Rahul Arora, Head (Office Leasing & Retail Services), India, JLL.

According to Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research and REIS, India, JLL, as global economic and business conditions stabilise, global occupiers are now more certain of their Real estate plans and India is "at the top of their list for footprint expansion and growth".

"In Q2, global occupiers accounted for a significant 59.3 per cent share of gross leasing volumes. Nevertheless, domestic occupiers continue to show strong momentum, representing a 48.4 per cent share of India’s gross leasing activity since 2022. This is a notable increase from the 35 per cent average share in the three years from 2017 to 2019," he said.

"While global occupiers remain bullish on expanding and growing their operations in India, a strong domestic economy is creating resilience in the office market," he added.