What are the Different Types of Commercial Leases in India?

When you think about leasing a big commercial space, you should be fully prepared mentally as it’s a huge undertaking that requires massive monetary investments. When you rent a business space for the first time; it is not only essential to research the market well but also to have relatively good knowledge about the types of commercial leases that can be availed in India. 

In this country, commercial real estate leases are typically term-based. The contract expires after a specific amount of time. In older days, the leases used to be permanent and ever-lasting. Nevertheless, given the current market scenario, and the steep rise in property rates, the picture is not quite the same anymore. 

In India, you will find three basic kinds of commercial real estate leases. While the terminologies may change from place to place, having a fair idea about the concepts could help you to negotiate the best possible deal. 

Here are the three types of commercial leases India:

Gross Lease

Also referred to as a full-service lease, it is the kind of lease where the landlord is required to pay for all the property-related expenses out of the rent given by the tenant. The list of such expenditures comprises insurance, maintenance, and taxes. 

While the landlord is fully accountable for the building, the tenant’s job is to fully focus on the business. It is mostly used for multi-tenant buildings. 

The biggest benefit is that tenants don’t have to be concerned about paying for taxes, insurance, or maintenance. The lease contract states the entire expenses of leasing the commercial space and also the conditions under which the prices may increase in the future. 

Net Lease 

A net lease is a commercial real estate lease wherein tenants not only have to pay for the space they have occupied but also have a contractual agreement where the lessee has to pay a part or all of the taxes, insurance fees, and maintenance expenses for a property apart from the basic rent.  

The net lease comprises of single net lease, double net lease, and triple net lease. One of the main benefits of the net lease is that tenants can regulate their expenses in a better manner by monitoring how utilities are used. They are required to only pay for the actual property tax and the amount for maintenance. If there is no need for extensive maintenance or if the property taxes fall, they may be able to save some money. 

Modified Gross Lease 

Even though it bears resemblance to gross lease, there are some differences. Although the rent is given in a lump sum, there is still some compromise that can happen between the parties. The parties to the agreement can negotiate the expenses which can be integrated into the base rental price. 

Additionally, the costs like the janitorial services and electricity are not included in this list. Since the modified gross lease is tenant-friendly, it seems to be the most popular among tenants. Corporates largely favor modified gross leases over others since they are not accountable for the maintenance of office buildings. 

In a nutshell, when it comes to commercial real estate leasing, each type has its pros and cons. You need to decide on what is the most suitable for your business based on your budget. 

CRE Matrix is India’s preferred real estate data analytics provider. It allows stakeholders across an array of sectors to have the opportunity to see the commercial leasing data of various companies. 

For more such exciting analysis and details on real estate, visit CRE Matrix.

Grading Office Buildings in India – Our 4 Parameters

How does India grade it’s office buildings? Is there a formula to this? Why one office building may be A+ in grading and still command a rental lower than a grade A building? All this and a lowdown on how CRE Matrix grades office buildings across India.

Office space is crucial for any firm’s development as the workspace environment plays a vital role in the employee’s mental health and wellbeing. The quality of the physical workplace setting has a powerful sway on the company’s capability to both recruits as well as retail employees. 

Since the work environment is extremely important, companies are now looking out for appropriate and best office spaces in India that can keep their employees satisfied. Happy employees can help reap profits for the business. It is observed that more and more companies in India are becoming very particular about the kind of office space they want in a specific type of commercial building. 

India is filled with different kinds of commercial buildings in any city. If you’re considering taking up office space for your company, you would have many options to consider based on your preferences and budget. The location is one of the many factors that need to be kept in mind before taking up office space in a building. 

Some of the other parameters are the age of the building, amenities offered, parking, design of the building, and so forth. It is based on these criteria that commercial buildings in this country may be categorized as Grade A building, Grade B building, and Grade C building. These classifications may help to determine the rents of the buildings. 

Let us look at the various parameters that help classify the office buildings India:

Amenities 

Grade A buildings are bestowed with the specific grade because they come with a lot of high-quality amenities. They feature facilities such as fire prevention systems, fire-management systems, earthquake-resistant structures, and so forth. Grade A office building Mumbai will have a cutting-edge HVAC (Heating Ventilation, Air Conditioning), extremely safe elevators, and state-of-the-art concierge services. The utilities such as water and electricity are exceptionally effective. These buildings usually house a cafeteria, food court, restaurants, ATMs, coffee shops, and so forth. 

On the other hand, a Grade B office building will have elevators that work well but are not considered to be superior quality. Water and electricity systems are not deemed to be extremely effective. Many may not even come with features such as earthquake-resistant structures and waste recycling units. As for Grade C office buildings, they barely have any amenities. In India, you will not find any lobby area or even elevators. 

Location

Grade A buildings are typically located in the heart of central business districts. In metropolitan cities such as Mumbai or Bengaluru, they are more likely to have enormous open spaces or some kind of greenery landscape that adds to the beauty of the building. Grade B buildings are not so centrally located but manage to have a decent location. Grade C buildings are not perched in busy commercial hubs and can be located in any lane or road. 

Parking 

Grade A buildings have professional management and have adequate parking for every corporate tenant, their employees, and their guests who could visit occasionally. Grade B buildings generally compromise on factors like security and parking. They will have enough for the employees of the corporate tenants but not extend it to their guests. Grade C office building MMR will not have enough parking spaces to fit vehicles of all employees of their corporate tenants. 

Architecture 

Grade A office buildings are typically architectural marvels and extremely posh and upscale in their looks. These buildings are typically newly built and have the necessary infrastructure in place. Grade B buildings are usually older than Grade A buildings and are not as shiny and glitzy as the former. Grade C buildings are usually the oldest as compared to the other two and typically need a lot of repair work. 

We deploy 5 other parameters which form our secret sauce to grade buildings. To know more, sign up with us and we’ll take you through how we grade buildings using artificial intelligence, machine learning and a lot of human intelligence.

CRE Matrix is India’s preferred real estate data analytics platform. We can provide stakeholders with every minute detail about a commercial building including its grading. 

For more such exciting analysis and details on real estate, visit CRE Matrix.

CRE Matrix Attends Midday BDA Expo 2022

CRE Matrix was proud to attend the Midday BDA Expo 2022 which is currently ongoing from 15th to 17th April 2022. Our CEO, Abhishek Kiran Gupta was invited as a special guest to speak on the importance of data analysis in the real estate sector at the first-panel discussion at the conclave on Day 1. 

Abhishek Kiran Gupta

Key Highlights from the Panel Discussion: 

  1. Abhishek Kiran Gupta opined that data is central to decision-making for better project design, improved project development, enhanced broking by advisers, better lending opportunities by banks, higher-quality investments by investors, and so forth. 
  2. Abhishek Kiran Gupta shared that the youth in the real estate industry have multiple choices to shape their career from development to broking to research & advisory to finance to fractional ownership and so on. 
  3. Abhishek Kiran Gupta advised all young entrepreneurs with start-up ideas to focus on building sustainable and profitable businesses and not pursue valuations and quick exits. 

Key Highlights from the Expo:

CRE Matrix visited over a dozen developer booths and spoke extensively with key sales representatives. 

  1. The event showcased housing sales of 15 apartments on day 1 till 4 pm. 
  2. The majority of the projects highlighted at the expo were from the Western Suburbs Macro-markets between Andheri to Dahisar. 
  3. Most projects were redevelopment or slum rehab projects. The event demonstrated a couple of FREEHOLD land projects as well. 
  4. It was very promising to witness the JDA/JV/Joint projects between developers. The Western Suburbs market developers appear to be very cordial with each other and display healthy competition with each other. 
  5. There has been a slowdown in housing inquiries and housing sales post a rise in stamp duty rates by 1% in Mumbai. However, the sales team believes home buyers will have to adjust to this new reality.
  6. Developers humbly articulated that they are most likely increasing home prices in mature projects citing a rise in raw material prices. 
  7. We were extremely impressed to witness that several developers have opted to tie up with brokers on Mandate sales wherein brokers exclusively market these projects directly through social media or mobilizing channel partners.

Our CEO Abhishek Kiran Gupta was honored to attend the real estate conclave and be able to share his wisdom. The 3-day Midday BDA Expo 2022 will conclude on 17th April. So, if you haven’t visited yet, now is the time to check it out! 

For more such exciting analysis and details on real estate, visit CRE Matrix.

How Indian Family Offices Can Leverage Real Estate Analytics

What is a family office? It is a private wealth management service provided to ultra-high net worth investors to concentrate and control over family finances, legal issues, tax, and administration matters. It is believed to be an outsourced solution to regulate the financial and investment dealings of people or families. It operates to offer an optimal solution for developing, maintaining, and transferring family wealth. 

A family investment vehicle or family office is considered to be either a single-family office or a multi-family office. A single-family office backs one family but a multi-family office supports at least two families. Family Offices are growing in India as the country has new billionaires every year. There have been approximately 100 Family Offices that have come up in the past decade or so. 

For quite some time, real estate investing was propelled completely by speculation, educated guesses, and gut feeling. This is why investors kept repeating the same mistakes many times. While risk cannot be fully eradicated, real estate data analytics lets people make informed decisions about lucrative investments, thereby reducing the risk greatly. Today, real estate analytics can be used to increase wealth and enhance their competitive advantage. 

Let’s look at the ways Indian family offices can leverage real estate analytics:

Location

Data analytics provide significant insights into the existing trends in real estate investment. Locations can be evaluated based on factors like traffic congestions, school ratings, quality of life, and crime rates. Moreover, real estate data can aid in assessing how lucrative a location will be when it comes to occupancy prices, average rental income, and even the ROI of the area. 

Being able to zero in on the most optimal locations swiftly lets Indian family offices remain one step ahead of the competition in seeking rental properties. It also saves them the hassle of conducting prolonged searches via traditional research approaches. 

Pricing 

Whether a family office is interested in either selling or buying, price optimization is critical for building wealth in real estate. Indian family offices need to comprehend the market they are operating within to make the best possible pricing decisions. 

Quicker and More Precise Appraisals 

Acquiring an appraisal is very significant before purchasing or selling an investment property. Real estate data analytics offers a lot of details about sales for comparable properties in the same area. Investment property analysis makes it effortless for valuators to deliver price estimations swiftly to family offices. 

Commercial Trends 

Commercial real estate investment is generally more large-scale and complex as compared to residential property investment. Thus, investing profitably in the commercial property needs detailed and comprehensive real estate data analytics on consumer trends. It will help family offices make a more informed decision. 

Competition Analysis 

Real estate data analytics can help family offices assess the performance of their competitors who are in the real estate industry. Which firms are believed to be the most trustworthy? Who is selling the most? What consumer rating do they have? What kind of promotional techniques are they using? Family offices can also make use of data analytics for profits, sales figures, and customer reviews to evaluate their performance.

Tenant Targeting 

Using predictive real estate data analytics, family offices can help decide who their tenants will be in the following years. Data analysis makes it more effortless for family offices to target their marketing properly. 

Real estate markets are believed to be unstable, complex, and always in charge. Thus, Indian family offices would benefit from real estate data analytics to make intelligent investment selections and increase their return on investment. Thanks to data analysis, family offices can accurately assess where and when to invest, as well as decide the appropriate value of properties. 

For more CRE industry insights and data research do Contact us.

Andheri West – What makes it the preferred office and housing destination for developers, investors and homebuyers?

Andheri_ West

Andheri West has witnessed a phenomenal Real Estate transformation over the last 15-20 years. Starting with the Mumbai International Airport and Mumbai suburban local train station to Mumbai’s first Metro Line, two upcoming metro lines and upcoming Coastal Freeway. All these infrastructure developments shall help connect Andheri to all other parts of Mumbai – Northern suburbs, South Mumbai and Eastern Suburbs. Andheri West is one of the prime examples among Mumbai City Micro-markets which boasts an amazing mix of Office buildings, Shopping Centers, Retail High Streets and High-end Residential. Andheri West’s population is approx. 400,000 with about 100,000 households having an average monthly income of INR ~150,000. The housing market in Andheri West has always been buoyant and continues to witness the same trends given consistent new job creation and quality housing development. In 2019 and 2020, Andheri West witnessed housing sales of ~2,200 units and ~1,500 units respectively.

Andheri_West

The total commercial office stock at Andheri West stands at about 4.5Mn sqft. However, there are a greater number of Grade B office buildings in Andheri West compared to Grade A buildings. Given the lack of new Grade A office supply in Andheri West, secondary (older) office sales market has been more active compared to the primary office sales market among investors. The offices market in Andheri West has historically been an investor driven market and we foresee the same trend to continue. Andheri West Offices Capital Values appreciated by 15% in the last 5 years alongside rental yield of approx. ~7%, giving the investor a handsome annual return of ~10% per year. We strongly believe investors will prefer investing in new Grade A buildings compared to older supply. Five new Grade A commercial office buildings are under various stages of construction, totalling to approx. 900,000 sqft. In the past, both occupiers and investors have shown preference for offices sizes up to 2,000 sqft carpet area, primarily because the key occupier sectors have been BFSI, Media & Entertainment, CAs, Lawyers, etc.

Contrary to common belief that Bandra-Khar Linking road is the most active High Street in Mumbai, we would like to differ in opinion. We believe High-Streets of Andheri West have a wider spread not only in terms of size but also in terms of number and quality of retailers. Andheri West High-Streets can offer you everything from clothing to electronics, from jewellery to automobiles, from F&B to fashion accessories. Given the thick housing market, most private and PSU Bank have multiple bank branches and ATMs in Andheri West. Similar to the office asset, the high-streets in Andheri West have offered handsome annual returns of ~12% to its investors.

Related Article: BKC displaced Nariman Point as Mumbai’s CBD! Read on to know why BKC won’t be dethroned in the next 5-7 years.

Covid-19 has only augmented the need for mixed developments and self-sustained micro-markets with all asset types including offices, retail, housing, hospitality, healthcare, education etc. More and more people want to reduce their commute time, Work from Home and aspire to reside in vicinity of all possible recreation choices.  We believe Andheri West is one of the best micro-markets in Mumbai that offers all the above to not only home buyers but also to office commuters. To summarize, solid existing & upcoming infrastructure, robust housing demand, significant presence of high-end Retailer brands in Malls and High-Streets and growing office market, makes Andheri West one of the most attractive real estate investment markets for long-term investors.

For more CRE industry insights and data research do contact us

The ‘Mumbai’s Next CBD’ Debate Settled

BKC as CBD

BKC displaced Nariman Point as Mumbai’s CBD! Read on to know why BKC won’t be dethroned in the next 5-7 years.

Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) has witnessed a phenomenal transformation over the last 20 years. The State Government set the ball rolling by appointing MMRDA as the special planning authority to develop BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex) as an alternative to the erstwhile CBD (Central Business District) – Nariman Point.

After initial reluctance, some of the Private and PSU Banks and companies shifted their headquarters to BKC. The National Stock Exchange opened its headquarters in BKC in 2001. Soon after, developers realized the potential and picked up land parcels in the region to launch multiple Grade A+ commercial projects. The total stock at BKC stands at about 18 Mn sqft as on year-end 2020. Diamond Bourses (~2 Mn sqft) opened its doors in year 2010. As of today, some of these Grade A+ commercial projects command the highest rent in the country for office space.

BKC currently houses some of the biggest Indian and International businesses including Amazon, Netflix, GIA, Bank of America, GIC, Google, Novartis, Pfizer, Wework, Kotak Bank, National Stock Exchange, SEBI, ONGC etc. These occupiers employ more than 200,000 people who commute to BKC daily, fuelling the growth of social infrastructure such as restaurants, gymkhanas, schools, hotels, luxury housing projects etc. Reliance shall move its headquarters to Jio World Centre, a 7Mn sqft convention centre which is expected to house office spaces, luxury mall, hotels, a performing theatre, convention centre etc.

One of the most well-connected suburbs of Mumbai city, BKC is also the epicentre of most of the major existing and upcoming infrastructure projects – Mumbai Highways, upcoming Metro lines, upcoming Bullet train project, SCLR, Bandra-Worli Sealink, upcoming Coastal freeway etc. Such a central location advantage with convenient connectivity to Northern suburbs, South Mumbai and Eastern Suburbs gives Bandra a big edge over any other micro-market. BKC is also surrounded by prime residential localities such as Bandra West, Khar West, Santacruz West on the West and Chembur, Wadala and Vikhroli on the East. Existing physical Infrastructure makes it easier for residents in these localities to easily commute to BKC. Nearly 85% of all senior employees at BKC reside in these neighbouring suburbs.

We foresee further development in and around Bandra Kurla Complex not only for office complexes but for retail malls, cinemas and hotels over the next 5-7 years. Around 4-5 Mn sqft more Grade A+ commercial office projects are planned which will generate about 50,000 new jobs in BKC over the next 5-7 years. Till then, we can comfortably shelve the case file of ‘CBD of Mumbai’ with a seal of BKC on it.

For more CRE industry insights and data research do contact us