mumbai the total absorption of commercial office space in india has increased marginally in the first half of 2013 to 13 million sq ft compared to 128 million sq ft in the same period last year says real estate consultant jones lang lasalle mumbai saw 38 million sq ft of space being absorbed in this period the highest in the country the first half of 2013 saw 193 million sq ft being completed compared to 107 million sq ft last year with the balance sheets of american companies looking decidedly healthier this year on account of a visibly improving economy we can expect them to focus more intensely on the indian office market says ramesh nair managing director west for jones lang lasalle india american companies account for 51 of the commercial office space leased in india according to jll expansion demand is expected to be subdued in 2013 but relocations and consolidations are going to add buoyancy in leasing activity rents in many micromarkets across mumbai have stabilized with some of them showing indications of bottoming out rentals are expected to go up by around 6 in 2013 given the basic scarcity of available rightsized grade a office stock in mumbais prime locations by the fourth quarter of 2014 though mumbais commercial real estate stock is estimated to cross the 100 million sq ft mark the city currently has 87 million sq ft of commercial office space when it touches the 100 million sq ft mark the vacancy rate is going to hover at 222 says nair at that point the two other heavyweight commercial real estate marketsbangalore and delhi ncrwill have 86 million and 89 million square feet respectively united states has 12 cities with over 100 million sq ft of commercial property stock new york tops the office space market with 444 million sq ft followed by washington dc with 327 million sq ft and chicago ranking third with 235 million sq ft in europe paris the largest office market in the world has 569 million sq ft of commercial office space the other large markets in europe include london and munich with 219 million sq ft and 214 million sq ft respectively in asia hong kong has 88 million sq ft of commercial office space