The office space absorption during the calender year 2011 has been estimated at 36 million square feet (m sq ft), an increase of 8% over last year. The trend is expected to continue during 2012, says real estate consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield.
While pan-India absorption witnessed a drop of 20% in supply, Bengaluru recorded highest absorption in the last five years, followed by Chennai and NCR which saw highest growth in demand at 32% and 15% respectively, the consultancy firm pointed out.
According to the report, Mumbai sees highest inflow of supply at 9.04 m sq ft with a vacancy level of 20%. Hyderabad witnessed a 28% drop in absorption from the previous year.
The annual year-end report pointed out an increase of 8% in total commercial space absorption over the previous year at 35.5 m sq ft in 2011. On the other hand, there has been a decline of over 20% in the total supply entering into the market in 2011 over the last year. This has helped marginally reduce the demand-to-supply gap in the office market, however, the overall vacancy is still as high as 18%.