Office Rents Soar Past Pre-Pandemic Levels, Mumbai Emerges As Most Expensive Market, Bengaluru Sees Slowdown

The data showed that on a pan-India basis, the overall weighted average quoted office rental touched Rs 101.30 per square foot per month by the end of the September quarter

Industry experts expressed concerns regarding the slump in growth in certain key markets such as Bengaluru and the rising levels of vacancies in others like Delhi NCR and Hyderabad.

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Rents for office spaces in major cities soared and surpassed pre-pandemic level, recent data from the market revealed. Real estate consultancy, Colliers, found that office rentals climbed nearly 6 per cent in Mumbai since 2019 to touch a weighted average of Rs 151.60 rupees per square foot per month during the July-September quarter.

The data showed that on a pan-India basis, the overall weighted average quoted office rental touched Rs 101.30 per square foot per month by the end of the September quarter. This figure stood 2 per cent higher in comparison to 2019, reported Moneycontrol.

Meanwhile, industry experts expressed concerns regarding the slump in growth in certain key markets such as Bengaluru and the rising levels of vacancies in others like Delhi NCR and Hyderabad.

Colliers revealed that office lease rents in Pune also jumped 7.7 per cent from 2019 to 2024 to quote on a weighted average basis at Rs 81.60 per square foot per month at the end of July-September. This jump was the second highest seen in the country over the same period after the Delhi-NCR market which logged a rise of 8.3 per cent to hit Rs 105.90.

Office rentals in Bengaluru jumped over 2 per cent from 2019 to 2024 to reach Rs 96.70 per square foot per month as of September end. Developers and office space operators have voiced out concerns regarding the prices of legacy technology parks being effectively stagnant for more than a decade.

Quoting Vineet Goyal, Joint MD, Kohinoor Group, the report said, “We have seen significant upswing in office leasing rates since 2019. In the Balewadi suburb, pre-pandemic rents were in the range of Rs 60-65 (per square foot per month), and that has reached around Rs 80-85. Besides good demand, a number of marquee developers have also come to the city to set up large office campuses.”