Is commercial space driving real estate?
Source: Hindustan Times This week, we try to dispel some myths regarding commercial real estate by answering some frequently asked questions. How well is commercial space doing vis-a-vis the other real estate sectors? The market for office space in India has witnessed a compounded annual growth in excess of 30 per cent over the past seven to eight years. The growth has been highest in the met-ros, and there is an overall annual addition of approximately 58 million square feet of office space. Is commercial space the primary driver? Does retail count in it? For all practical purposes, retail counts as commercial space - meaning that it is used for commercial purposes, and that a different set of parameters from those that apply to residential space comes into play. However, the IT and IT-enabled services industry does lay claim to a pretty significant chunk of the overall demand. Retail, in the form of shopping malls and multiplexes falls in a comparable league. There is also a huge dem