When many of the major cities in the country are observing a steep decline in the office space leasing activity, Hyderabad, on the other hand, continued to show rise in the office space absorption, during the first half of 2012.
A report released by real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield revealed that office space absorption in Hyderabad grew by 5%, at the time when the overall office space absorption in the top eight countries across India, declined by 21%. From 16.9 million sft in the first half of 2011, the space absorption in all the eight cities dropped to 13.4 million sft for the January-June period of 2012. Bangalore, NCR, Chennai and Pune are the list of cities which experienced a steep drop, whereas, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad are the cities which observed a rise.
In Hyderabad, 1.63 million sft office absorption was observed during the first half of 2011 and with a 5% rise, it went to 1.71 million sft during the first half of 2012.
According to the sources, the C&W officials reported that though the leasing process by IT/ITeS sector remained subdued across the country, Hyderabad continued to rise as it is attracting the non-IT companies as well. They observed a growth trend of non-IT absorption in the city with several companies involved in engineering, professional services and technical services taking up space mainly in the suburban, CBD (central business district) and off-CBD micro markets.
The firm classified the areas of Madhapur, Gachibowli, Nanakramguda, Manikonda and Raidurg as suburban markets and mentioned that they led the office space absorption with a total 9.87 lakh sft being absorbed during first half of 2012. Begumpet, Somajiguda, Raj Bhavan Road and SP Road are classified as off-CBD markets, which are second on the list with the space absorption of 3 lakh sft, followed by the CBD markets like Banjara Hills Road No 1, 2, 10 and 12, with a total absorption of 1.72 lakh sft and peripheral markets like Pocharam and Shamshabad with a total absorption of 1.34 lakh sft office space.
Source: TOI