Despite Covid 19, office space realty remains unfazed

Covid 19 may have a significant impact on the economy but most of the office space developers ruled out any major impact on the segment. Participating in a Realty webseries titled 'Office Spaces – The Changing dynamics post Covid 19' co-organized by ICCPL and Realty & More, most of the participants agreed that the pandemic will have some short term impact, but ruled out any drastic changes in the office space segment. “There are certainly going to be some changes, but not long lasting one. There has been no rental correction or revisiting of contract except for retail segment. In the office space there has been hardly any renegotiations so far, but we have provided some concession in maintenance charges to our clients,” said Executive Director, WTC, Khair Ull Nissa. Sanjay Chatrath, MD (North), Colliers International, said, “We don't real see any downward movement in the commercial rent. Market is very strong and is driven by great commitment. The office space absorption in 2019 was around 50 million sq. ft. and we believe the demand in 2020 will fall to 40-45 million sq. ft. primarily because there has been little business in the first quarter, so far, but as supply will also be impacted due to labour issues and other restrictions, the rentals won't fall much."

Salil Kumar, Director, Assotech, termed the on-going changes as temporary adjustments. “The efficiency of work force drastically falls during work from home as companies are making temporary adjustments. But as soon as the pandemic dies down, companies will revert to normal working. Only some departments can continue to work from home, others will be required to be present in office for smooth functioning.. As regards the preparedness of developers to follow the protocol set out by the authorities, Nimish Gupta, MD, South Asia, RICS, said, “Many companies, particularly the large ones, have developed guidelines and a manual to be followed. Large enterprises will carry out a proper risk assessment before they start offices again including areas such as facility management. But it's not going to be business as usual. Some of the players are witnessing a drop in queries and content for both sales as well as buying." “The content has dropped drastically on any advertisement platform by 40-50% as priorities have changed in the last 40-45 days. The story is the same across the globe,” said Amrendra Shukla, National Head – Sales, OLX India.