Delhi to see 4.3m sq ft of new retail supply by 2025

Majority of the new stock will be in the suburban market.

By 2025, new retail supply of 4.3 million sq ft is expected to come on stream in Delhi NCR, the majority (81%) of which is in the Suburban submarket. According to JLL, most of the prominent retailers have pre-committed spaces in these developments.

A lot of international brands are planning to set up stores in India, and domestic retailers are expanding their footprint and introducing fresh concepts; thus, retail leasing activity across Delhi NCR is expected to remain strong.

Here’s more from JLL:

In the first six months of 2024, retail activity across Delhi NCR malls remained strong, with a gross leasing of 0.51 million sq ft recorded. For gross leasing in H1 2024, the Suburbs led with 54%, followed by Prime South with 31%.

Net absorption of 0.14 million sq ft was recorded in Q2, up by 41% q-o-q. The majority of the fresh leasing took place in mixed-use developments like Worldmark 65 and Ireo Grand View High Street in Gurgaon; Skymark One and Gulshan One29 in Noida.

No new malls become operational in Q2 2024

Six underperforming malls with a cumulative area of 1.14 million sq ft were withdrawn from the stock, which brought the Grade A retail mall stock down by 4% to 25.6 million sq ft at the end of the quarter.

With strong leasing during the first half of the year, the overall vacancy levels came down to 11.5% at end-H1 2024, down from 13.3% at end-2023.

Rents go up slightly in Q2 2024

In Q2 2024, rents increased slightly across all major, well-performing malls. With underperforming malls being withdrawn from the stock, the overall rents in Q2 2024 went up by 3.5% compared to the previous quarter.

One investment transaction was recorded during the quarter wherein Brookfield India REIT acquired Bharti Realty’s stake in its commercial assets, including two mixed-use retail assets: Worldmark 65 in Gurgaon and Worldmark Aerocity in Delhi.