Delhi-NCR ranked the fifth most expensive office market in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, property consulting firm Knight Frank said on Tuesday.

In its latest edition of prime rental index for the second quarter of 2024, Knight Frank said the prime office rent in Delhi-NCR remains at Rs 340 per square foot/month while Hong Kong SAR continued to be APAC’s most expensive office market during the quarter.

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The report further said that Bengaluru remained India’s leasing champion, capturing nearly half of the total transactions in the top three cities, and Delhi-NCR’s consistent rental performance and strategic location have made it a top choice for corporate occupiers.

Mumbai, too, has shown remarkable growth in leasing activity with a staggering 183.1% year-on-year increase along with its office leasing market with approximately 3.0 million square feet leased, representing a 183.1% year-on-year increase.

It highlighted that the leasing volumes in India’s three largest office markets – Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, and Mumbai Metropolitan Region – surged 50% to 10.5 million square feet in Q2 2024.

Bengaluru maintained its position as the country’s most active market with 4.9 million square feet leased in Q2 2024. Robust demand is shifting Bengaluru’s balance slowly in favour of landlords with prime rents in the city seeing growth during the period. The leadership teams actively encouraging employees to return to office has also positively impacted the transaction volumes in the market, the report said.

Prime office rental rates in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru have remained stable year-on-year and the current market momentum points toward a stable rental in the rest of 2024 as well.

The quarterly report revealed that 15 out of 23 tracked cities reported either stable or rising rental rates.