New Delhi, Oct 28 : The commercial office real estate sector is growing steadily across the top 7 cities with a 6 per cent yearly rise in monthly office rentals ' from Rs 85 per square feet (Sq. ft.) in first nine months (9M) of 2024 to Rs 90 per sq. ft. in 9M 2025, a report said on Tuesday.

Predictably, the Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services (IT/ITeS) sector comprised the largest share, at 27 per cent, followed by coworking at 23 per cent and BFSI at 18 per cent.

"Compared to last year's corresponding period, the IT/ITeS sector's leasing share declined marginally by 1 per cent. On the other hand, coworking saw an overall share increase of 2 per cent - from a 21 per cent share in 9M 2024 to a 23 per cent share in 9M 2025," Anarock Research said in its report.

Among the cities, Pune witnessed the highest growth of 97 per cent in net office absorption - from 3.14 Mn sq. ft. in 9M 2024 to approx. 6.2 Mn sq. ft. in 9M 2025. Kolkata was the only city to record a decline in net office leasing, of 19 per cent.

Bengaluru witnessed the highest net office leasing of approximately 9.95 million sq. ft., followed closely by Delhi-NCR with net office leasing of approximately 8.2 million sq. ft. and MMR with approximately 6.6 Mn sq. ft

Demand for flexible workspaces has been evolving post-pandemic, with companies adapting to hybrid work models, cost efficiency, and flexibility. Start-ups and corporates, and several other enterprises with a hybrid work model, prefer coworking spaces over regular office spaces.

In contrast, despite increased new office completions in the top 7 cities, average vacancy levels saw a marginal 3 per cent yearly decline ' from 16.70 per cent in 9M 2024 to 16.20 per cent in 9M 2025.

Chennai is the only city to record a single-digit office vacancy of 8.90 per cent - the least among all top cities, the report stated.

Global headwinds, including tariffs, geopolitical tensions, and layoffs in IT/ITeS sectors, seem to have had no negative impact on office space demand in the top cities.

Office absorption continued to soar by 34 per cent ' from 31.31 million square feet in 9M 2024 to 42 Mn square feet in 9M 2025.

'For instance, out of the total gross office leasing of 58.28 Mn sq. ft. in 9M 2025, over 40 per cent or approx. 23.34 Mn sq. ft. was leased by the GCCs alone. Bengaluru saw the highest gross leasing of 8.3 Mn sq. ft. by GCCs, followed by Pune with 3.73 Mn sq. ft. and Chennai with 3.57 Mn sq. ft," said Anuj Puri, Chairman ' ANAROCK Group.

'Several companies are now looking for high-quality Grade A office spaces with better infrastructure and amenities, and green-certified sustainability features,' Puri added.

/IANS