Bengaluru rent boom

Bengaluru’s office rents rose faster than any prime market in Asia-Pacific in the first quarter of 2026. (apac.knightfrank.com) Knight Frank said prime office rents in Bengaluru were up 14% from a year earlier in January-March 2026. Its Asia-Pacific index rose 0.8% quarter on quarter, and 18 of 24 tracked cities had stable or higher rents. (apac.knightfrank.com; malaysiasun.com) The local demand picture was just as tight. Knight Frank India said Bengaluru leased 9.2 million square feet of office space in Q1 2026, more than 30% of activity across eight major Indian cities. (content.knightfrank.com; hindustantimes.com) A Global Capability Centre is a back-office, engineering, or product hub that multinationals run from India. Knight Frank said those centres took 48% of all office leasing in India in Q1 2026, and Bengaluru alone captured 41% of that demand. (content.knightfrank.com; hindustantimes.com) That push has started to show up in pricing. Knight Frank’s India data, cited by Hindustan Times and CNBC-TV18, said average office rents in Bengaluru crossed ₹100 per square foot per month for the first time in Q1 2026, reaching about ₹100.6. (hindustantimes.com; cnbctv18.com) The housing side is moving differently. Knight Frank India said the national residential market entered a “phase of moderation” in Q1 2026, with affordability under pressure, even as higher-ticket homes held up better than the sub-₹10 million segment. (content.knightfrank.com) That means the Bengaluru rent story is not a simple citywide shortage. Office demand is being pulled by multinationals, large-format deals, and premium Grade A buildings, while the broader housing market is facing slower sales and more price sensitivity. (content.knightfrank.com; jll.com) JLL said Bengaluru’s net office absorption in Q4 2025 was the city’s second-highest ever, and total 2025 supply reached 12 million square feet. Even with that new supply, JLL said rents and capital values were still rising, led by premium projects. (jll.com) The caution flag is that not every signal points one way. In August 2025, Hindustan Times reported early signs of softer housing rents in some Bengaluru tech corridors amid muted hiring, even before the latest office data showed another jump in commercial demand. (hindustantimes.com) For now, the cleanest read is that Bengaluru’s commercial core is still running hot. The city entered 2026 with Asia-Pacific’s fastest prime office rent growth and India’s biggest office leasing quarter, even as the wider housing market turned more selective. (apac.knightfrank.com; content.knightfrank.com)