Noida continues to drive office space leasing in NCR as companies take advantage of low rents

NEW DELHI: Noida, which touched a decadal high in office space leasing during the first half of 2020, is continued to be the preference of companies looking for office space in areas with low rental. Spaciya Advisors, a Noida-based real estate consultancy firm has concluded five deals of 1.5 lakh square feet of office spaces in June and July.

According to a Knight Frank report, Noida outpaced Gurgaon for the first time even as commercial transactions dipped across India owing to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

“This has come as a result of the shrinking budgets of all corporates, start-ups and big establishments. We found an opportunity during these hard times and realized the market needs,” said Ajit Panda, Founder and CEO of Spaciya Advisors.

The transactions were done across various domains such as BPO, IT/ITES, travel and staffing. The size ranges from 8000 square feet to 52000 square feet.

“While COVID has drastically impacted the way businesses operate, companies who cannot resort to work from home, are grabbing lease opportunities where the landlords realize the strain in the market and offer flexibility in terms for extended rent free periods or upfront rental discounting. Spaciya has been able to help corporates locate such deals,” Panda added.

As per the Knight Frank report, the National Capital Region (NCR) saw office transactions decline 45% year-on-year to 2.1 million square feet but Noida recorded a growth of 86% with 1.08 million sq ft leased area.

Property consultants said low rentals, preference by IT companies and the upcoming airport at Jewar led to the surge despite the pandemic.