Bengaluru CBD 5th fastest growing market in Asia; Rents grow by 9.4% Y-o-Y: Knight Frank Prime Office Report Q2 2019

Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai records 5% rental growth y-o-y in Q2 2019; Connaught Place, New Delhi rental grows by 1.4%

 Hong Kong- Central most expensive office market in Asia; Melbourne CBD records highest rental growth of 16% y -o- y

 Mumbai, 27 August, 2019: International Property Consultant Knight Frank in its recent report Prime Office Rental Index Q2 2019, noted that the CBD of Bengaluru (MG Road, Residency Road, Cunningham Road, Lavelle Road, Richmond Road and Infantry Road) ranked 5^th in terms of y-o-y growth at the end of Q2-2019. Melbourne saw the highest rental growth y-o-y at 16%. Tokyo (12%), Bangkok (10.4%) and Singapore (10.3%) were the other prime office markets that saw higher y-o-y rental growth rates ahead of Bengaluru. Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Connaught Palace, that make up the prime office markets in Mumbai and the NCR respectively, were ranked 8^th and 12^th at the end of Q2 2019.The Knight Frank Prime Office Rental Index tracks rental levels of 20 frontline cities across the Asia-pacific region

Bengaluru CBD saw the highest annual growth in rental values in India, with current rentals at INR 125 per square foot per month (INR/sq.ft./mth) registering an annual growth of 9.4% in Q2 2019. Regionally, Bengaluru rental values saw the 5^th strongest annual growth in rental values. Mumbai’s  BKC which registered growth of 5% y-o-y in Q2 2019 and was recorded at INR 300/sq.ft/mth. New Delhi’s Connaught Place recorded a rental value of INR 330/sq. ft/mth also recorded an annual rise of 1.4% in Q2 2019.

Indian office rents remained stable in Q2 as the market saw an influx of new supply in H1 2019; 23 million square feet (msf), a 31% year-on-year growth, was supplied during the period. The IT/ITeS sectors continue to absorb the lion’s share of new space coming online, accounting for 35% of all transacted volumes in H1 2019 but has started to show signs of slowing on lower corporate spending and moves towards in sourcing. However, this weakness has been offset by strong demand from co-working operators; co-working transaction volumes rose 42% year-on-year to 4 msqft in H1 2019.

KNIGHT FRANK PRIME OFFICE RENTAL INDEX Q2 2019

Source: Knight Frank Research // *Sanko Estate

“The office markets of India have withstood headwinds from global and national economic conditions and depict an impressive growth story. The leasing volumes have grown consistently and are at historic highs, which indicates a high level of confidence that the corporate world has in the India story, especially from a long-term perspective.  Bengaluru has maintained its prime growth market position with its CBD recording the 5^th highest rental growth, further strengthening its position. BKC in Mumbai and Connaught Place in New Delhi have also seen growth in rental values, indicating continued interest for transaction from office end – users,”said Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India

Shishir further continued, “A strong commercial office market has been at the core of keeping India’s real estate story alive with global investors, who have, despite some slowdown in the residential markets, continued to explore investment opportunities in the market. Strong rental trends will be a force majeure for the growth of investments in this segment going forward.”