The prolonged West Asia crisis has clouded the economic prospects of several nations, including India. However, demand for office space has remained resilient. During the first half of 2026, particularly in April-June, the country witnessed robust demand and supply of office space. This indicated that the overall economy was here to stay on a sustained growth path.While India witnessed an office space supply of 32 million sq.ft. during H1 2026, the absorption [space occupied] was higher at 45.5 million sq.ft. In the second quarter, the supply was 21 million sq.ft. and absorption remained higher at 24.6 million sq.ft. The top four cities for office space absorption and new supply are Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Together, they account for 34.5 million sq.ft. of absorption and 21.8 million sq.ft. of fresh supply in H1 2026.Comparatively, Chennai recorded 3.8 million sq.ft. of office space absorption against a supply of 1.7 million sq.ft. in H1 2026. In Q2, absorption stood at 2.0 million sq ft, while supply was 0.3 million sq.ft. “Chennai has witnessed absorption in the range of 8-10 million sq.ft. annually over the last three years. This is significantly higher than pre-COVID,” says Preetham Mehra, senior executive director & head, Tamil Nadu & Kerala, CBRE. “The key micro markets contributing to this include CBD, OMR Zone 1, Mount Poonamallee Road and Pallavaram - Thoraipakkam Road [popularly known as Radial Road].”