Office demand across seven major cities reached an all-time high in the first half of the current calendar year, with gross leasing touching 33.54 million square feet, according to newly released data.

The report on office demand for the January–June period shows a 29% annual increase in gross leasing across seven key cities — Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.

The study noted that the first half of 2024 recorded the strongest leasing activity ever, with 33.5 million sq ft, surpassing the previous first-half peak in 2019.

Gross office leasing stood at 26.01 million sq ft during January–June 2023. In the same period in 2019, gross leasing was 30.71 million sq ft, before dropping to 21.10 million sq ft in 2020 and 12.55 million sq ft in 2021 due to the pandemic-driven slowdown.

Demand rebounded after the pandemic, with 24.68 million sq ft of gross leasing recorded in the first half of 2022.

Gross leasing refers to all lease transactions completed during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments, but excludes renewals and deals still under discussion.

The report projects that 2024 will record gross leasing of 65–70 million sq ft, marking a historic milestone for the country’s commercial real estate market.

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