The leasing of retail space in shopping malls and high-profile high streets jumped nearly 5 percent between January-September this year across eight major cities, Cushman & Wakefield said.
Data from real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield indicates that the absorption or leasing of retail space in Grade-A malls and main high streets across the top eight cities stood at 5.53 million square feet during January-September 2024 against 5.29 million square feet in the corresponding period of the preceding year.
These eight cities are -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Saurabh Shatdal, Managing Director-Capital Markets and Head-Retail-India of Cushman & Wakefield said, "India retail real estate growth remains strong. It can be seen with robust leasing numbers in both malls and high streets."
"This increasing discretionary spend and ever-evolving consumer preference are all going to continue to grow the demand for premium retail spaces," he added.
Shatdal, however said that India would have to step up the pace at which quality retail spaces come up in major cities in order to unlock even bigger transaction volumes, as the country remains highly attractive to the global retailers looking to increase their footprint.
Commenting on the data, Akash Nagpal, VP-Leasing of realty firm Trehan Iris said that growth reflects a strong rebound and renewed confidence in the retail sector.
"Consumer behavior post-pandemic is definitely changing in all aspects. There certainly is a huge demand in such dynamic experiential spaces. Our approach was that the retail destinations also would cater to the classical need of the retail needs while encouraging community engagement wherein an experience can't happen through e-commerce.
Sameer Verma, General Manager, Lulu Mall, Lucknow, said that a steady increase in mall leasing activity across major cities was an indicator of the solid recovery and expansion of the retail sector.
"This is a positive trend that supports our vision of creating world-class retail experiences that cater to evolving consumer preferences while fostering a thriving ecosystem for our retail partners," he said.
According to data from Cushman & Wakefield, high street space leasing rose to 3.82 million square feet in January-September of this year, compared to 3.44 million square feet for the year-ago period.
Nevertheless, the retail space absorbed by shopping malls declined to 1.72 million square feet from 1.85 million square feet.
Among cities, Hyderabad's high-street locations witnessed high demand for retail space with 1.72 million square feet of space leased during January-September 2024 compared to 1.60 million square feet in the year-ago period.
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