The end of a seven-year bull run in India’s office development is expected to squeeze rentals and hurt real estate investment trusts (REITs), putting top property investors in a spot.
The boom in India’s commercial office properties was led by huge demand, foreign investments, falling vacancy rates and rising rentals.
The covid-19 outbreak has delayed project completion, softened rentals and sapped demand, at least for the next few months. Blackstone Group Lp, India’s top office space owner, has $19.4 billion assets under its real estate portfolio in the country, across 39 investments since 2006.
As rentals and office absorption rates fall, companies which own rent-yielding assets will find their revenues squeezed. Property developer