Office, biz space on offer to rise 4 times this year

NOIDA/GURUGRAM: Mumbai remains India’s financial capital but Delhi-NCR’s swift rise as an economic powerhouse to rival Maximum City will receive another major impetus this year with the availability of up to four times more office and commercial space in the national capital region compared with 2018, according to real estate analysts.
Leading the pack in NCR will again be Gurgaon, but Noida — riding on good metro connectivity and the Aqua Line to Greater Noida that was inaugurated in January, as well as leading phone makers setting up shop there — will also become a bigger player.

Colliers data shows NCR overall saw the launch of 3.25 million square feet of commercial real estate in 2018. This is forecast to increase to 13 million sq ft in 2019. Real estate body Credai says commercial real estate in NCR is being driven by the movement of people towards newer residential areas and commercial ecosystems developing around them.

In Delhi, too, the availability of commercial real estate will see a sharp increase, from 0.4 million sq ft in 2018 to 1.32 million sq ft in 2019. In Gurgaon, the supply in 2018 was 1.35 million sq ft, which is likely to shoot up to 8.5 million sq ft in 2019. In Noida and Greater Noida, commercial space launched in 2018 was 1.48 million sq ft. This year, it is likely to be around 3.17 million sq ft.

Sanjay Chatrath, executive director (NCR) at Colliers, told TOI, “NCR will witness new commercial supply of approximately 13 million sq ft in 2019, which will increase the overall city stock by 11-13%. Gross absorption is at an all-time high and, despite this fresh infusion, rental values will continue to move northwards. The attractiveness of Noida and Greater Noida as a business hub has been increased by the Aqua Line metro and investments by large organizations like Vivo, Oppo, Samsung, Paytm and announcements by Ikea and Haier.”

Realty experts Anarock also predicted a similar increase in commercial space launches in NCR this year. “As per Anarock data, nearly 10 million sq ft of new commercial supply is expected in NCR in 2019,” said Santhosh Kumar, vice-chairman, Anarock Property. “This supply includes a major office space spanning 2.5 million sq ft in Gurgaon by DLF. Nearly 6.9 million sq ft is expected to be launched in Gurgaon, followed by 2.9 million sq ft in Noida and the remaining in Delhi’s central business district,” he added.

However, absorption of commercial real estate space is not expected to keep pace with the launches. According to Colliers’ figures, total absorption in NCR stood at 10.07 million sq ft in 2018. In 2019, this is likely to be around 9.18 million sq ft.

Real estate developers’ association Credai is optimistic about Noida, which also has the largest number of troubled mega housing projects. Prashant Tiwari, president of Credai, western UP, said there will be more commercial hubs in Noida, and increasingly in Noida Extension, because of more people moving there as housing projects get completed. “Noida Expressway will also see considerable growth in commercial projects, which are either getting completed now or will be over the next few years,” he added.