New Delhi: Office demand across seven major cities reached an all-time high with gross leasing of 33.54 million sq ft in the first half of this calendar year, according to JLL India.

Real estate consultant JLL India on Wednesday released office demand data for the January-June period this year, showing a 29 per cent year-on-year growth in gross leasing in these seven cities - Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata - to 33.54 million sq. An increase of feet was observed. , Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.

“H1 2024 (January to June) marked the best first half ever, with leasing volume of 33.5 million sq ft, surpassing the previous highest H1 performance seen in 2019,” the consultant highlighted.

The gross lease of office space in the January-June period of 2023 was 26.01 million sq ft.

In January-June 2019, the gross lease of office space stood at 30.71 million sq ft, but the number fell to 21.10 million sq ft in January-June 2020 and 12.55 million sq ft in January-June 2021 due to the slowdown in demand due to COVID. Of the epidemic.

Demand for offices returned after Covid. In January-June 2022, gross office lease stood at 24.68 million sq ft.

Gross lease refers to all lease transactions entered into during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments, but excluding term renewals. Deals are not included in the discussion phase.

JLL India estimated, "Record-breaking gross leasing of 65-70 million square feet is expected in 2024, setting the stage for a historic milestone in the country's commercial real estate market."