India Office Leasing Reaches 18.7 Million Sq Ft in Q3 as Delhi-NCR Accelerates

India’s Grade A office market recorded 18.7 million sq ft of gross leasing in Q3 2026, up 9% year-on-year and 7% from the previous quarter, according to Colliers India.

That took cumulative leasing across the top seven office markets to 54.4 million sq ft during January-September 2026, 7% higher than the 50.9 million sq ft recorded in the same period last year.

Bengaluru remained India’s largest office market by leasing volume, while Delhi-NCR recorded the sharpest acceleration among the major markets during Q3.

Bengaluru retains its lead

Bengaluru recorded 5.2 million sq ft of leasing in Q3, up 11% from 4.7 million sq ft a year earlier.

During the first nine months of 2026, the city recorded 15.7 million sq ft of leasing, accounting for approximately 29% of the seven-city total.

That means Bengaluru alone represented roughly 28% of Q3 leasing and 29% of January-September demand.

The city’s continued scale fits a broader office-demand theme Vantage has been tracking through GCC expansion could take India's next office boom beyond major cities.

That earlier Vantage coverage highlighted the importance of Global Capability Centres to India’s office market and the growing role of large-format transactions.

Delhi-NCR more than doubles Q3 leasing

Delhi-NCR recorded 3.3 million sq ft of Q3 leasing, compared with 1.6 million sq ft in Q3 2025.

That represents 106% year-on-year growth, the strongest increase in absolute quarterly leasing among the larger office markets covered by Colliers.

Delhi-NCR also grew 22% sequentially from 2.7 million sq ft in Q2.

For January-September, leasing reached 8.3 million sq ft, up 17% year-on-year.

The shift means Delhi-NCR accounted for around 18% of total Q3 leasing, compared with roughly 9% a year earlier.

Hyderabad remains strong despite a weaker quarter

Hyderabad recorded 2.2 million sq ft of leasing in Q3, up 47% year-on-year but down 42% from the previous quarter.

Its nine-month performance remains significantly stronger, with 9.4 million sq ft leased during January-September, up 47% from a year earlier.

The difference between Hyderabad’s annual and sequential performance shows why one quarter should not be interpreted in isolation.

Pune rebounds sequentially

Pune recorded 3.2 million sq ft of leasing in Q3, up sharply from 1.2 million sq ft in Q2 but still 14% below the 3.7 million sq ft recorded a year earlier.

Mumbai and Chennai also reported lower Q3 leasing compared with the same period last year.

Q3 city performance

• Bengaluru: 5.2 million sq ft, up 11% YoY
• Delhi-NCR: 3.3 million sq ft, up 106% YoY
• Pune: 3.2 million sq ft, down 14% YoY
• Mumbai: 2.4 million sq ft, down 20% YoY
• Hyderabad: 2.2 million sq ft, up 47% YoY
• Chennai: 2.0 million sq ft, down 23% YoY
• Kolkata: 0.4 million sq ft, up 300% YoY from a low base

Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Pune together accounted for approximately 63% of total Q3 leasing.

This is a Vantage editorial calculation based on Colliers’ rounded city-level data.

Flex space is becoming a larger part of demand

One of the most important signals sits below the headline leasing total.

Flex-space operators leased 12.6 million sq ft during January-September 2026, up 37% year-on-year and representing 23% of total office demand.

Conventional leasing, by comparison, remained almost unchanged at 41.8 million sq ft, versus 41.7 million sq ft in the same period last year.

Using Colliers’ rounded totals, overall nine-month leasing increased by about 3.5 million sq ft year-on-year, while flex leasing increased by about 3.4 million sq ft.

That means roughly 97% of the reported net increase in leasing came from flex operators.

This is a derived Vantage indicator, not a Colliers-published metric, and the percentage is approximate because the underlying figures are rounded.

Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR were the largest flex markets, recording 2.8 million sq ft each during January-September.

Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad both recorded more than twofold increases in flex-space leasing.

Technology still leads conventional demand

Conventional office leasing reached 41.8 million sq ft in the first nine months of 2026.

Technology occupiers accounted for close to 16 million sq ft, making them the largest conventional leasing segment.

Technology, BFSI and engineering and manufacturing companies together represented nearly three-fourths of conventional office demand.

Bengaluru and Hyderabad together accounted for more than 55% of technology-sector conventional leasing, while Mumbai accounted for 30% of BFSI conventional demand.

Supply increased more slowly

Colliers reported 41.7 million sq ft of new office supply during January-September 2026, up approximately 1% year-on-year.

The reported 54.4 million sq ft of gross leasing therefore exceeded new supply completions during the period.

That comparison should be interpreted carefully.

Colliers’ gross absorption measure excludes renewals, pre-commitments and transactions where only a letter of intent has been signed, but gross leasing can still include occupiers moving between buildings.

It therefore should not be treated as equivalent to net absorption or used on its own to conclude that vacancy declined by the difference between leasing and new supply.

What this means

For office developers

Demand remains strong, but it is uneven by city and occupier format.

Bengaluru continues to offer scale, while Delhi-NCR’s acceleration increases the relevance of the NCR office pipeline.

At the same time, the rise of flex operators means developers need to distinguish between conventional corporate leasing and demand from workspace platforms.

For occupiers

The growing flex share indicates that a larger portion of leased office stock is being taken by flexible-workspace operators.

That can expand occupier choice, particularly for companies looking for shorter commitments, managed environments or rapid expansion.

However, leasing by a flex operator does not automatically mean that the entire space has already been occupied by end users.

For commercial-property investors

Strong leasing supports the operating backdrop for institutional-grade office assets, but city, tenant and asset quality remain critical.

Vantage previously examined the growing scale of listed commercial real estate in Six listed Indian REITs distribute Rs 3,136 crore to investors in Q1 FY27.

That article provides additional context for how occupancy and rental collections feed into the institutional office-investment market.

What to monitor next

The most useful Q4 indicators will be:

• whether Delhi-NCR maintains its leasing acceleration;
• whether Bengaluru continues to sustain quarterly leasing around 5 million sq ft;
• whether flex-space operators maintain their current share;
• whether conventional leasing begins growing again;
• new office completions;
• vacancy by city and micro-market;
• rental growth; and
• GCC leasing volumes.

City-level vacancy, rental growth, project-level absorption and complete transaction-level leasing data were not available in the Colliers release reviewed for this article.

Sources

Colliers India

9-month office space demand at 54.4 msf; Q3 2026 leasing also picks up by 7% on QoQ basis

Published: 28 September 2026

https://www.colliers.com/en-in/news/press-release-india-office-market-q3-2026

ETRealty

India office leasing rises 7% to 54.4 million sq ft in Jan-Sep 2026: Report

Published: 28 September 2026

https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/commercial/india-office-leasing-rises-7-to-54-4-million-sq-ft-in-jan-sep-2026-report/134535829

The Times of India

Office leasing rises 9% in Q3 across 7 cities; Delhi-NCR demand more than doubles

Published: 29 September 2026

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/real-estate/news/office-leasing-rises-9-in-q3-across-7-cities-delhi-ncr-demand-more-than-doubles/articleshow/134541904.cms

Vantage

GCC expansion could take India's next office boom beyond major cities

Published: 15 August 2026

https://vantage.withtatva.ai/news/gcc-expansion-could-take-indias-next-office-boom-beyond-major-cities

Vantage

Six listed Indian REITs distribute Rs 3,136 crore to investors in Q1 FY27

Published: 17 August 2026

https://vantage.withtatva.ai/news/6-indian-reits-distribute-rs-3136-crore-in-q1-fy27

Evidence Caveats

Colliers defines the figures as Grade A gross absorption across Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

The measure excludes:

• lease renewals;
• pre-commitments; and
• transactions where only a letter of intent has been signed.

The following are Vantage editorial calculations based on Colliers’ rounded figures:

• Bengaluru represented approximately 28% of Q3 leasing.
• Delhi-NCR represented approximately 18% of Q3 leasing.
• Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Pune together represented approximately 63% of Q3 leasing.
• Approximately 97% of the reported YoY increase in nine-month leasing came from the increase in flex-space leasing.

These derived percentages are approximate.

The following metrics were unavailable in the reviewed Colliers release:

• city-level vacancy rates;
• city-level rental growth;
• asset-level leasing terms;
• project-level absorption;
• complete tenant-level transaction data; and
• flex-space end-user occupancy.