Tag: Industrial

Industrial & warehousing demand remains healthy with about 13 mn sq ft of leasing in H1 2024 – Colliers

New Delhi, 26 July 2024: With about 13 million sq ft of leasing activity in H1 2024 and 17% YoY growth, industrial & warehousing demand across the top five cities remained healthy. Chennai and Delhi NCR led the demand, cumulatively accounting for about half of the overall leasing in H1 2024. Third Party Logistics (3PL) players continued to be the top occupier of warehousing space, contributing to about 36% share in overall demand during the first half of the year. Interestingly, demand in Chennai almost doubled in H1 2024, compared to the same period last year and was largely driven by warehousing requirements of 3PL players. At a micro market level, warehousing space uptake was more than 1.5 million sq ft each in Bhiwandi (Mumbai), Chakan-Talegaon (Pune) and Oragadam (Chennai).

Trends in Grade A Gross absorption (mn sq ft)

“On a quarterly basis, Q2 2024 saw about 6 million sq ft of industrial & warehousing demand across the top five cities, a 48% rise YoY. With 1.8 million sq ft of leasing and 30% share, quarterly demand was significantly driven by Delhi NCR. The demand in the region was led by large uptake of industrial and warehousing space in Farukhnagar and Sonipat micro markets. Taking cognizance of healthy demand across major cities and supportive government policies, developers have been infusing high quality warehousing facilities replete with technologically advanced features. With significant completions in first half of the year, 2024 is likely to witness Grade A supply infusion to the tune of 20-25 million sq ft.,” says Vijay Ganesh, Managing Director, Industrial & Logistics Services, Colliers India.

3PL demand remains steady in H1 2024, leasing by other segments on the rise

While 3PL players continued to dominate the demand with about 36% share, space uptake by players from engineering, FMCG and electronics segments was significant with 12-16% share each. Interestingly, both engineering and electronics segments witnessed over 1.7X times leasing activity in H1 2024, compared to the corresponding six-month period of 2023. Going ahead, driven by conducive industry-specific policies and an enabling regulatory framework, diverse segments are likely to propel the industrial and warehousing space demand in India.

“With strong macroeconomic indicators, India’s industrial and warehousing market continues to grow, and the momentum is likely to continue in the second half of the year. Upward trend in indicators such as Manufacturing PMI and IIP reflects healthy industrial activity which is likely to spur demand for industrial and warehousing spaces. Interestingly, the manufacturing PMI has been in expansionary zone since July 2021 and remained close to 60 in the last few months. Furthermore, recent budgetary announcements will improve logistics efficiencies, catalyze demand and attract investments in the industrial and warehousing sector. Additionally, increasing platform level investments will lead to influx of superior quality industrial and warehousing space in the next few years.” says Vimal Nadar, Senior Director & Head of Research, Colliers India.

With supply infusion exceeding the demand for Grade A warehousing spaces, overall India vacancy levels increased by 210 basis points (bps) on an annual basis and stood at 12.2% at the end of H1 2024. Developer anticipation of heightened demand in upcoming quarters, have resulted in fresh supply of 14.4 million sq ft in H1 2024, a 35% YoY rise. With about 5.7 million sq ft of new industrial and warehousing developments, Delhi NCR accounted for about 40% share in overall completions in first half of the year. Notably, Q2 2024 witnessed about 7.5 million sq ft of completions in top five cities of the country, a 53% YoY rise. Q2 2024 also marked the highest quarterly supply infusion in the last 2 years. Amidst healthy demand and high-quality supply infusion, rentals in key micro markets saw an appreciable uptick.

Trends in Grade A Supply (mn sq ft)

Large sized deals account for 35% of the total leasing

During H1 2024, large deals (>200,000 sq ft) accounted for about 35% of the demand. Although a vast majority of these larger deals came from 3PL players, electronics and FMCG occupiers too had large warehousing space requirements. On a city level, Chennai followed by Delhi NCR dominated the chunk of large-sized deals.

Industrial & warehousing supply in Q1 2024 inched towards 7 million square feet

Gurgaon, 18 April 2024:  Amidst steady leasing, new supply inched towards 7 million sq ft during Q1 2024, the highest in last two years. Around 33% of the new Grade A developments in the first quarter was concentrated in Delhi NCR. Industrial and warehousing leasing activity across the top five cities remained buoyant during Q1 2024 at 7 million sq ft. Mumbai and Chennai led the demand with about 55% share. Interestingly, leasing in Chennai, especially remained robust, with industrial & warehousing space take-up in Q1 2024 almost twice the leasing activity in corresponding period of last year. Across the top five cities, Bhiwandi in Mumbai with 1.7 million sq ft of Grade A demand, was the most active market for Q1 2024. Bhiwandi was followed by Oragadam in Chennai, which surpassed leasing activity of Chakan Talegoan in Pune for the first time in a while.

Third-party logistics players (3PL) continued to be the top occupiers of industrial and warehousing space, contributing to over 40% in the total warehousing demand. 3PL space uptake was driven by healthy activity in Chennai particularly. The city accounted for about 43% of the overall 3PL activity in the top five cities. Interestingly, at the Pan-India level, retail players accounted for 16% of the demand during the quarter, followed by engineering and automobile players with 12% share each.

Trends in Grade A Gross absorption (million sq ft)

Trends in Grade A Supply (million sq ft)

“While 3PL players continued to drive industrial & warehousing leasing activity, demand from Retail, Engineering and Automobile players too accounted for a significant share in Q1 2024. It is noteworthy to see that the cumulative share of these three sectors have risen from 26% in Q1 2023 to 40% in Q1 2024. This signifies changing consumption patterns and hints at opportunities emerging in the sector from the steady demand diversification.” says Vijay Ganesh, Managing Director, Industrial & Logistics Services, Colliers India.

Both retail and E-commerce segment witness over 2X surge in leasing

E-commerce segment has seen robust growth post Covid-19 and witnessed 2.3X times leasing during Q1 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. With increased focus on digital infrastructure and changing consumption patterns, E-commerce segment is further likely to warm up and create more demand for warehouses. Moreover, the rise of Q-commerce players is also likely to catalyze demand for bigger hub warehouses.

Warehousing space uptake by retail players also witnessed heightened traction in Q1 2024 and witnessed more than twice the demand a year ago. The expansionary activity is being driven by strong retail activity across cities, especially in large department stores. Favorable consumption pattern has the potential to translate into healthy demand for warehousing space in the upcoming quarters.

Large sized deals account for over 50% of the industrial & warehousing space demand

During Q1 2024, large deals (>200,000 sq ft) accounted for 51% of the demand, a significant rise from about 40% share during 2023. Amongst these larger deals, 3PL companies continued to account for the bulk of share. However, the rise in share of large deals was driven by large space uptake, particularly by retail and E-commerce players during the quarter. Chennai followed by Mumbai dominated the proportion of large-sized deals across the top five cities.

“While the average quarterly industrial and warehousing space demand in the last two years has been at around 6 mn sq ft, average incremental supply has been comparatively lower. With continued healthy leasing activity in last few quarters, developer confidence seems to have significantly improved. With a Grade A supply pipeline of about 23-25 mn sq ft for the year 2024, supply is likely to closely follow demand trend across the top five cities of the country. Overall, an upbeat start to the year holds potential to translate into a healthy performance by the industrial & warehousing sector in 2024.” says Vimal Nadar, Senior Director & Head of Research, Colliers India.

top 5 deals for Q1 2024-

Source: Colliers

Note: Data pertains to Grade A buildings for top five cities- Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Pune

Vacancy levels largely remain rangebound amidst rising supply and healthy demand

Supply infusion during the quarter was almost in line with the leasing activity, indicating improved developer confidence for the industrial and warehousing sector. At 11% by the end of first quarter, vacancy levels however increased by 120 bps as compared to Q4 of last year on account of churn and exits in the industrial and warehousing space. Amidst healthy demand and supply, rentals remained rangebound and rose by about 8% in select micro markets of Chennai and Pune.