According to the latest occupier survey report released Thursday by real estate services and investment firm CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd., nearly 30 percent of surveyed occupiers intend to execute "significant" portfolio expansions exceeding 30 percent—a steep rise from 18 percent reported in the previous year.
Structural Real Estate Transformation
Industry leadership emphasizes that the aggressive appetite for Grade-A commercial space reflects long-term economic commitments to the region rather than short-term cyclical adjustments.
"When nearly a third of occupiers are planning to grow their footprint by more than a third, that reflects a structural rather than cyclical shift in how corporates are approaching their India real estate strategy," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO - India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa at CBRE.
Magazine added that with India’s overall Grade-A commercial office stock already crossing the 1-billion-square-feet threshold, sustained corporate enthusiasm reinforces India's standing as a prime global hub for long-term business scaling.
Broad-Based Demand Across Sectors
The expansion wave is spanning diverse business verticals, scale brackets, and corporate origins. CBRE's analysis reveals that corporate demand remains anchored directly in operational scaling.
"About 63 per cent of the large-sized occupiers plan to expand and consolidate in the next two years, and we are likely to see this translate into active requirements across both established and emerging micro-markets," noted Ram Chandnani, Managing Director, Leasing Services, India at CBRE.
Historic Performance Milestones
The optimistic occupier sentiment builds on an unprecedented commercial leasing streak through the first half of the year:
-
Record Quarterly Absorption: Gross office leasing touched an all-time quarterly high of 24.6 million square feet in Q2 2026, marking an 18 percent sequential rise and a 14 percent year-on-year increase.
-
Historical Half-Year Peak: Gross absorption reached 45.5 million square feet across H1 2026, representing the highest half-year leasing volume on record—roughly 10 percent ahead of H1 2025 figures.
-
GCC Dominance: Global Capability Centres (GCCs) continued to function as the primary growth driver, accounting for 42 percent of total Q2 leasing at a record 10.3 million square feet.
-
Flexible Workspace Growth: Flexible space operators captured a 27 percent market share during Q2 2026, accommodating enterprise demand for agility and hybrid working models.
With developers delivering matching supply pipelines across major tech hubs—including Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Hyderabad—the commercial sector is well-positioned to support sustained corporate absorption through the remainder of the decade.
