Office space deals down 30 per cent in Kolkata: Research

KOLKATA: Office space transactions in Kolkata fell by 30% from the last quarter. According to the Research and Forecast Report by Colliers International, the recorded office space transaction volume stood at 0.2 million sq ft in the third quarter of 2015.

“We have not seen any major office developments being completed barring a mixed use project at Acropolis Mall, which has an office component of about 0.35 million sq ft,” said Surabhi Arora, associate director, research, Colliers India. “Low demand kept the developers cautious in starting new projects, thus no new commercial, Grade A project / parts of the project was launched during the quarter,” she added.

Less congestion and availability of Grade A space in Salt lake sector V and New Town were the first choice for occupiers that included corporates from the pharma, IT/ITeS and BFSI sector.

Notable deals signed during this time included leasing of about 70,000 sq ft office space in Martin Burn Business Park by Cerner Corporation, followed Capgemini leasing out 30,000 sq ft office in Infospace and Serco Global leasing another 20,000 sq ft in Godrej Water Side. Leasing apart, Veheretech IT Solution bought 10,000 sq ft in PS Srijan Corporate Park.

Rentals saw 4% quarter on quarter increase in Sector V, Salt Lake and New Town only. There is no expected change in the rental market too as MNCs and major IT/ITeS firms continue to keep a distance from the Kolkata market.

Also, according to experts the volume of new office development will remain low in the coming quarters, as builders are focusing to complete their small scale projects under construction.