According to real estate consulting firm CBRE, the office space absorption or leasing of new space in these cities has come down from 35 million sq ft in 2011 to about 26 million sq ft in 2012. Data from Cushman & Wakefield, another international real estate consultancy, shows leasing is down from 37 million sq ft to 27 million sq ft while Jones Lang LaSalle says new office occupancy has fallen from 36 million sq ft to 28 million sq ft.
In India, the thumb rule is that a white-collar worker occupies an average space of 70 sq ft. An 8-10 million sq ft reduction in new office space occupancy during the year means 1-1.30 lakh fewer jobs have been created this year compared with 2011. The seven towns and cities covered by these consulting firms in their surveys include the National Capital Region of Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai.
