India: Coworking operators’ share of overall Indian office space leasing jumped to 20 per cent during H1 2022, according to real estate consultant Anarock, up from six per cent the previous year.
Anarock’s data showed the total net absorption of office space across seven major cities stood at 20.8 million square feet in the first half of this calendar year, 20 per cent of which was taken up by coworking spaces.
The report says that corporates are opting for coworking centres, which include managed office space, to cut capital expenditure and enjoy flexibility in scaling up or down their businesses.
Demand for coworking space is the highest in Pune, as the share of flex space was 45 per cent of the total net leasing of office space of 2.55 million square feet.
In Bengaluru, the net leasing of office space stood at 6.1 million square feet in the first six months of this year. The share of coworking space was 23 per cent.
Share of coworking spaces stood at 15 per cent each in Delhi-NCR and Chennai, out of total net leasing of office space at 2.75 million square feet and 1.85 million square feet respectively.
In Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the net leasing of office space was 2.9 million square feet, of which 11 per cent was contributed by coworking players.
Hyderabad witnessed 4.25 million square feet of net leasing of office space and co-working share in it was 13 per cent, while Kolkata saw leasing of 0.4 million square with co-working share of 14 per cent.
Anarock chairman Anuj Puri said: “Coworking has received a major boost after Covid-19 disrupted the previous status quo. A major factor driving demand is that these spaces are not concentrated in just the city centres or major employment hubs; they’re spread across different areas, including the housing-intense suburbs.”
“Many large office parks are also housing coworking spaces. This helps companies to remain closer to their employees and offer them flexibility,” he added.
WeWork India, Smartworks, Awfis, CoWrks, The Executive Centre, Skootr, Simpliwork Offices, IndiQube, The Office Pass, 91Springboard and 315Work Avenue are major players, among others, in the coworking segment that includes managed office space.
In April, Anarock entered the segment itself by acquiring a 75 per cent stake in myHQ, a booking platform for coworking spaces. myHQ, which is based in Delhi-NCR, has more than 50,000 subscribed members.
