ICICI Bank leases 25,000 sq ft in Connaught Place

ICICI Bank Ltd. has leased 25,000 sq ft at Delhi's Dr. Gopal Dass Bhawan, Barakhamba Road, two people aware of the development said.
The deal was facilitated by NCR-based brokerage firm Realistic Realtors.

“Our goal is to assist businesses in locating elevated properties in prime locations that provide unparalleled access to all of the facilities that will benefit the buyer during the leasing process. Our area of expertise has demonstrated that we can deliver the finest service and consultancy to our clientele across a multitude of sectors,” said Ankit Gupta, Regional Director, Realistic Realtors.

ICICI bank did not respond to the email query.

Indian Commercial Real Estate (CRE) office market saw record leasing in CY19 with 42msf of annual net absorption, according to a report by ICICI securities. The office market has been in a upcycle over CY14-19 with rising rentals, falling vacancies, consolidation among developers and emergence of REITs.

At the beginning of CY20 (January 2020), the outlook was bright with healthy pre-leasing for upcoming supply. However, the evolving global situation owing to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has led to CY20 net office absorption of 20msf in which is a 50% YoY decline.

Until the global Covid- 19 concerns reduce, corporates will relook at their space requirements in CY21E and expansion or consolidation plans will be put on the backburner. Given the fact that 30-40% of Indian office space demand originates from the USA, a prolonged economic slowdown in the USA will likely lead to reduced demand for offices in H1CY21.

“While CY20 was a weak year with 20msf of net absorption owing to Covid-19 impact, we expect net absorption to gradually improve and we build in net absorption of 21.7msf in CY21E and 28.3msf in CY22E. We expect leasing activity to pick up from Sep’21 as international travel may pick up again along with effective Covid-19 vaccines. We believe that cumulative net office absorption of 80msf over CY21-23E compares well with overall upcoming Grade A supply of 114msf over the same period of which 20-30% may be shelved as it is speculative supply, leading to effective supply of 80-85msf,” the report said.