Bangalore set to outstrip Tokyo, London in office space use

Bangalore set to outstrip Tokyo, London in office space use
Financial Express

NEW DELHI, SEPT 8: Bangalore—the hub of India’s IT, ITeS—seems set to overtake cities like Tokyo and London in annual office space absorption.

In the first seven months of 2006, Bangalore absorbed over 7 million sq ft of office space. At its current absorption of a million sq feet a month, it may well nudge Tokyo and London, which used up 12.3 million and 9.9 million sq ft, respectively, in 2005. Bangalore finished third globally at 9.2 million sq ft in 2005, followed by Shanghai (6.8 million sq ft) and New York (4.1 million sq ft), says a survey by property advisory firm DTZ Debenham Tie Leung.

The IT and ITes sectors have also helped the National Capital Region (NCR)— comprising Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad— record its highest-ever office space consumption in the first seven months of 2006. The sector used up 75% of this space. Driven by the boom, rentals in the region are up 51% this year.

Prime office space use in NCR crossed 5.1 million sq ft against 3.5 million sq ft in calendar year 2005. Though NCR’s offtake continues to be lower than Bangalore’s, it outstripped New York, which occupied 4.1-million sq ft space in 2005.

Gurgaon absorbed the maximum (63% of office space), totalling about 3.2 million sq ft. IBM, SAP, Satyam and PWC were the prime takers, absorbing more than 1 million sq ft of office space. Noida absorbed more than 1.4 million sq ft. Here, Hewitt Associates, Momentum Technologies, Fiserv, Freescale and HCL leased about 650,000 sq ft of office space.