Knowledge Hub

With leasing activity totaling close to 360,000 sf, Q1 2019 recorded the highest first quarter leasing for the city in the last 7 years. Salt Lake submarket constituted an overwhelming majority (97%) of the leasing recording two large transactions above 100,000 sf during the quarter.

With strong leasing activity headlined by select sub-markets, net absorption for Q1 stood at 1.4 msf; nearly three times higher compared to Q1 2018. Nearly 50% of the net absorption was seen on account of new project completions during the quarter.

The overall vacancy reduced considerably to 11.7% from 13.4% on the back of stock withdrawal of four non performing / poor grade malls totaling to 975,000 sq ft. during the quarter. This highlights the high occupancy and good performance of quality mall developments across the city.

Brands like Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Louis Vuitton, Arrow, Meena Bazaar, Sabhyata, and Manyavar leased spaces in malls during Q1 2019. F&B, fitness and apparel brands like Haldiram’s, CultFit, and FBB expanded their retail footprint in main street spaces in Delhi and Gurugram. 

Limited vacancy in existing malls led to a greater quantum of leasing activity on main streets during the quarter. Prominent activity by lifestyle & F&B segments was seen on the high streets of Aundh & Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Retail sales of Winter 2019 shows a 0.9% year-on-year growth, underpinned by the drugs and toiletries category, which grew a robust 2.3% y-o-y. On the other hand, the new Chinese E-commerce Law, that took effect on January 2019, imposes a stronger regulation on the domestic resale of commodities purchased overseas, which would likely impact Chinese tourists’ inbound spending in Japan.