Rentals falling in Connaught Place

Robert Tor Russell, is remembered for his most accomplished work, the great circus of Connaught Place. Well, today, his creation has fallen on bad days, thanks primarily due to the market downturn, as demand for commercial space in and around the vicinity of CP has taken a nosedive.

As the demand for commercial space has fallen flat, rentals have gone down, even up to 20% during the last three-four months. Realty experts say prestigious buildings like Statesman House, International Trade Centre and Ambadeep building are not finding new tenants.

There is hardly any taker for vacated spaces as well. As recently as a few months ago, the rents were ranging from Rs 250 per sq feet to Rs 275 per sq feet in prestigious buildings of CP. The rates vary little, but for the location and floor. As far as the rates in not so new/prestigious buildings are concerned, they were in the range of Rs 125 to Rs 160 per sq feet. The rental rates in buildings on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Tolstoy Marg and Barakhamba Road have
fallen by up to 20%.

To face up to this serious scenario, space owners are now making new lease agreements with their tenants. In the new agreements, they are charging less than 15-20 % rent, says Devender Gupta, chairman of Century 21 India.

Interestingly, Connaught Place is facing this kind of drubbing after a really long time. After Metro Rail entered CP, the demand for office space in and around this majestic place had really gone up in a big way.

It is well known that many companies and professionals shifted to CP after Metro Rail became operation there. That really boosted rentals there till meltdown hit the realty sector badly. The mood is identical in commercial areas like Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama Place, Rajindra Place and Netaji Subhash Place (Wazirpur ).

The rates in all these places range from Rs 65 to Rs 100 per sq ft according to building, floor and location. If the prospective tenant is good at bargaining, he can clinch the deal even on better terms, says Anil Makhijani of Mak Realtors. The fact is unlike in CP, there is hardly any demand for new space. So far as CP is concerned, even though the demand has gonedown, it is still attracting some clients.

Rohit Dhawan, a chartered accountant, says that after taking space on rent in Competent House in Connaught Place, he never thought of moving out.

"I could easily get bigger space on less money. Even then the thought of moving out from here never crossed my mind." But, he changed his mind as his business is not doing well, unlike in the past. Hence, he is vacating his CP space for a smaller office in Karkardooma in East Delhi.
Experts say the slowdown has affected malls in both Delhi and the NCR, with the worst hits being those that don���t have cinema theatres.