Total absorption across India's top eight cities reached 11.4 million sq ft, up from 7.7 million sq ft in the previous quarter.

Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Kolkata and Hyderabad accounted for 65 per cent of the total leasing volume.

Delhi-NCR led the market with 3.4 million sq ft of leasing activity during the quarter, followed by Kolkata (2.4 million sq ft) and Hyderabad (1.7 million sq ft).

Other cities like Bengaluru (1.5 million sq ft), Mumbai (0.9 million sq ft), Chennai (0.7 million sq ft), Pune (0.5 million sq ft) and Ahmedabad (0.4 million sq ft) also saw considerable leasing activity, with a combined total of 9.6 million sq ft of new supply hitting the market during the quarter.

For the year to September 2024, I&L leasing across the top eight Indian cities totalled 27.5 million sq ft, with Delhi-NCR, Kolkata and Bengaluru accounting for 61 per cent of the activity, recording 16.9 million sq ft in cumulative leasing.

The third-party logistics (3PL) sector dominated leasing with a 38 per cent share during Q3 2024. The engineering and manufacturing sector followed with a 19 per cent share, while retail, e-commerce and fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 17 per cent, 10 per cent and 6 per cent of leasing activity respectively, the CBRE report said.

Domestic corporations led the charge in leasing activity, capturing an 82 per cent share, a notable increase from 67 per cent in Q3 2023.

This was followed by companies from the Asia-Pacific region at 9 per cent and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region at 6 per cent.

New supply was largely concentrated in Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR, which accounted for 50 per cent of building completions, underscoring their importance as key hubs in the I&L sector.

Emerging markets like Chandigarh, Hosur, Jaipur, Lucknow and Visakhapatnam are projected to become focal points for warehousing expansion, driven by occupiers' efforts to extend their distribution networks to tier-II and tier-III cities.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)