We only advise on buildings we would take space in ourselves

The Mumbai market as we actually see it

Grade A vacancy across the MMR closed the quarter at 11.4%, but that single number hides two different markets. In BKC and Lower Parel, genuinely institutional stock is tight and headline rents held at ₹310–₹360 per sq ft per month. Push out to the Thane–Belapur belt and the picture inverts: eleven million square feet under construction into a market absorbing roughly two million a year.

What that means if you are leasing

Landlords in the central submarkets have stopped discounting and started competing on fit-out contribution instead. We are seeing ₹1,800–₹2,600 per sq ft of capex offered on a nine-year term with a three-year lock-in — worth more than the two months rent-free most occupiers ask for first, and easier for a landlord to say yes to.

• Take the capex, not the rent-free, if you are fitting out anyway.
• Negotiate the escalation clause hardest — 15% every three years is now genuinely movable to 12%.
• In the periphery, do not sign anything longer than five years this year.

What that means if you own

Cap rates on leased BKC office have compressed about 40 basis points over twelve months as domestic institutional money has come back. If you hold a single-tenant asset with more than six years of term certain, this is a better exit window than most of us expected in January.

The buildings that let in a soft market are the ones whose landlord answered the phone during the last one.