Amid 5-year Low Mall Vacancy in Top 7 Cities, NCR’s Rate Almost Double
MMR’s
Grade A mall
vacancy across the top 7 cities fell to 5% in H1 2026 from over 7.5% back in
2025-end & a whopping 15.5% in 2021
· Vacancy in MMR at
4% in H1 2026 & 7% in Delhi-NCR - a 3-percentage-point gap
· MMR's vacancy came
without a single new mall supply addition in Q2 2026, & against highest
leasing volume among all cities (0.65 Mn sq ft)
· In contrast, NCR
has the highest vacancy among the 7 cities despite being the only city to
receive decent new retail supply in Q2 2026 (0.90 Mn sq ft)
· Interestingly,
Kolkata’s Grade A mall vacancy the lowest among top 7 cities – at 1.3%,
followed by Pune with 3.5%
· Bengaluru &
Hyderabad mall vacancy similar to MMRs at 4%
· Meanwhile, total
Grade A mall stock at approx. 73.06 Mn sq ft as of H1 2026-end; highest in
Delhi-NCR (at 19.42 Mn sq ft) & lowest in Kolkata at just 3.29 Mn sq ft
Mumbai, 23 September 2026: Grade A mall vacancy across the top 7
cities fell to 5% in H1 2026, from over 7.5% towards 2025-end, finds Anarock
Retail’s Retail Real Estate Monitor.
This is the lowest vacancy level in the last five analysed. A closer look shows
that of the two largest retail markets MMR and Delhi-NCR, mall vacancy in MMR
was 4% by the end of H1 2026, while Delhi-NCR stood at 7%.
The 3-percentage-point gap becomes starker when set against the full
7-city picture, where vacancy ranges from a near-full 1.3% in Kolkata to NCR’s
7% - a more than fivefold gap.
Six of the seven cities recorded a further 60 basis point decline in
vacancy quarter-on-quarter, suggesting a broad-based tightening trend even as
absolute city-level vacancy levels differ sharply. Only Chennai bucked the
trend – the city’s vacancy edged marginally higher in Q2 2026 even as its Grade
A malls continued to operate at near-full capacity.
|
City |
Vacancy (Q2 2026) |
Total Retail Stock (in Mn Sft) |
|
Kolkata |
1.30% |
3.29 |
|
Pune |
3.50% |
7.39 |
|
Bengaluru |
4.00% |
15.29 |
|
MMR |
4.00% |
14.81 |
|
Hyderabad |
4.00% |
8.21 |
|
Chennai |
6.00% |
4.65 |
|
NCR |
7.00% |
19.42 |
Source: Anarock Research & Advisory
MMR Retail Trends
Anuj Kejriwal, CEO – Retail & CEO – Europe, Middle East & Africa, ANAROCK Group, says, “MMR’s 4% vacancy in H1 2026 came without a single square foot of new mall supply hitting the market in Q2 2026 even as MMR, at 0.65 Mn sq ft., saw the highest leasing volume of all tracked cities. Entertainment and fashion & apparel demand led leasing, followed by food & beverage. Additionally, malls outperformed high streets in overall leasing share in MMR. In terms of rental momentum across micro markets, it was the strongest on Linking Road, which posted India’s sharpest single-corridor rise at 20% year-on-year with monthly per-square-foot rents ranging between INR 1,000-1,500 - the highest of any micro market in the country.”
Delhi-NCR - notable new supply, but highest vacancy
NCR, contrastingly, recorded the highest vacancy among the top 7 cities at 7% in H1 2026, despite being the only city to receive notable new mall supply in Q2 2026. The 0.90 Mn sq ft of new mall space added there effectively accounted for the maximum new completions in all the top cities. Pune was the only other city to see about 0.20 Mn sq ft of new mall space added in Q2 2026.
Despite the supply addition, NCR’s leasing volume of 0.20 Mn sq ft - roughly a third of Mumbai’s - trailed behind other cities, which added zero new supply. In NCR, Gurugram accounted for the largest share of NCR’s leasing, followed by Delhi and Noida, with malls contributing over 60% of quarterly activity and fashion, F&B, and departmental stores leading category-wise absorption.
Other Cities
Of all the top 7 cities, Kolkata has the lowest vacancy at 1.3% -
effectively full occupancy - with no new mall supply added, and Grade A malls
operating near capacity.
· Bengaluru and Hyderabad
have similar (4%) vacancy levels as MMR’s despite having different leasing
volumes (0.39 and 0.23 Mn sq ft respectively) and different category drivers -
Bengaluru led by high-street fashion, accessories, and furniture, and Hyderabad
by fashion & apparel alongside food & beverage.
· Pune’s 3.5% vacancy - the
second lowest of the top 7 cities - came alongside the only other new supply
addition (0.20 Mn sq ft) and 0.50 Mn sq ft of leasing in Q2 2026.
· Chennai posted 6% vacancy
with only 0.06 Mn sq ft leased - the lowest leasing volume of the top cities -
concentrated in its peripheral southern micro markets, even as prime high
streets like Anna Nagar and Velachery recorded some of the strongest rental
growth nationally, at 9% and 8% year-on-year respectively.
Source: Anarock Research & Advisory
“More than seen in recent years, organized retail across
cities is being shaped by different supply pipelines, tenant mixes and demand
drivers,” says Kejriwal. “Interestingly, the current available Grade A mall
stock in MMR and NCR explains why these two largest markets posted a
3-percentage-point vacancy gap. Currently, Delhi-NCR’s total Grade A mall stock
is approx. 19.42 Mn sq ft – the highest among the top 7 cities. In MMR, the
total Grade A mall stock is at approx. 14.81 Mn sq. ft.”
