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Commercial real estate is still being haunted by the memories of the second Covid wave.
Though demand for office space is on the uptick owing to workforces coming back to the good old office building, number crunchers have found a dent on the office table.
Slowdown In Office Leasing
Per this CBRE report, 25 million sq. ft. of office space was leased between January - September, 2021 - a drop of 4% over the same period in 2020.
Considering that 2020 was not exactly a year setting the leasing standard, offtake in inventory has been hit adversely two years in a row now.
The main reason for office demand nursing the brake pedal is the dark period of the second wave and the lockdown it ensured.
Supply Steady
On the flip side, supply of organised office space grew exactly 4% - YoY in the period January - September and stood at 34.3 million sq. ft.
With the way demand is recovering across real estate segments, FY22 should end with similar or better leasing volume than what was achieved in FY21.
Looking Ahead - More 'We', Less 'Me'
With an increasing number of employees headed back to the office, robust economic activity, and improving sentiment, demand for offices in the future looks healthy, feel experts.
However, co-working is in vogue and increasingly, corporate entities are looking for customised co-working options to enable work-near-home, the latest trend.
🎙 "India's real estate market has proven to be resilient over the last year. The overall outlook for Indian real estate continues to be positive", said Anshuman Magazine of CBRE.