Leasing activity in logistics up by 30% in 2019: CBRE

February 14,2020

Leasing activity in the logistics segment rose over 30 per cent on a year-on-year basis to touch 33 million square feet in 2019, a CBRE report said here on Thursday.

The report titled 'India Industrial and Logistics Market View, H2 2019' said that Bengaluru, National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai accounted for about 60 per cent of the overall space take-up during last year.

"In line with the annual trend, the second half of 2019 also recorded historic leasing activity, with about 18 million square feet of space take-up, an increase of about 20 per cent compared to H1 2019," it said.

Space take-up in the industrial and logistics segment during the year was dominated by small-sized transactions (less than 50,000 square feet), which held a share of about 42 per cent. The share of medium-sized transactions (50,000-1,00,000 square feet) was 30 per cent, while that of large-sized deals (more than 1,00,000 square feet) accounted for 28 per cent of the leasing activity during 2019.

Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO - India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE said: "To become a $5 trillion economy, the government aims at enacting several structural reforms to improve physical connectivity. Further, the implementation of government initiatives such as the National Logistics Policy and the National E-commerce Policy as well as large-scale infrastructure development are expected to promote investment, thereby further improving the overall stock of warehousing space in India."

He added that the fundamentals of the sector are strengthening, backed by the recovery of domestic demand, improvement of the manufacturing sector and structural shift towards omnichannel retailing.