bengaluru gross absorption of grade a commercial office space tanked 36 to 167 million sqft in the first half of the year the sharpest in the last few years due to slow decision making by the occupiers on account of covid19 as per a report from property consultancy firm colliersmajority of the deals expected to be done between april and june were put on hold being reconsidered or pushed to the second half of the year as occupiers focus on business continuity plans during the lockdown and workplace readiness as they slowly reopen offices with skeletal staffingmarket fundamentals in markets with low vacancy levels have not changed much in terms of rentals and it continues to be developer centric however we have started witnessing some flexibility from developers in the short run delayed decision making contract renegotiations measurement and effectiveness of work from home seems to be the underlying trends said arpit mehrotra managing director south india office services at colliers international indiaindustry executives have already cautioned that this year will be a rare bad one for the sector which has otherwise been the bright spot in the real estate segment total leasing for the year is expected to contract by a third compared to about 60 million sqft in 2019leasing at hyderabad and mumbais fell the most 62 and 53 respectively while bengaluru the biggest leasing market fell 34 to 54 million sqft while some deals in the pipeline have been postponed the city continued to see some large deals toi reported last week that microsoft and intel were looking to lease big spaces and talks have resumed after being on hold only pune saw an uptick in leasingafter a historical high in 2019 leasing is likely to see a dip this year and we forecast about 38 million square feet of gross leasing for 2020 before rebounding next year led by technology sector post the initial unrest we believe occupiers should return to their drawing boards to revisit their space requirements keeping facets such as densification health and wellness at the core of the decisions says megha maan senior associate director research colliers international