NCR leads India's warehouse absorption as rents climb 49% since 2021

Delhi-NCR has taken the largest share of warehouse absorption across India's eight biggest warehousing markets since 2021, according to fresh data from ANAROCK Research & Advisory released on 4 November 2026. Absorption refers to the net space taken up by occupiers over a period. The NCR accounts for 21.8% of the cumulative total, ahead of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region at 18.5% and Pune at 17.4%.

Rents have moved sharply too. ANAROCK's figures show average warehouse rent in the NCR rose from ₹22.2 per sq ft per month in 2021 to ₹33 in the third quarter of 2026, a rise of 49% over that period. Most of the gain came recently. Rents grew by only about 3% between 2021 and 2023, and then by 44% from 2023 to Q3 2026.

Demand and vacancy in the NCR

Third-party logistics operators make up the largest share of NCR warehouse demand at 26%, followed by manufacturing at 17% and retail at 13%, ANAROCK's table shows. NCR vacancy was 7.3% in Q3 2026. That is below Bengaluru at 11.5% and Ahmedabad at 11.0%, but above Pune at 6.8% and the MMR at 7.6%.

Peush Jain, Managing Director, Commercial Leasing & Advisory at ANAROCK Group, said the NCR recorded the sharpest rental appreciation among the eight cities. He also said the figures were encouraging, but that India's warehousing growth remains concentrated in a few markets.

Farukhnagar and the NH-48 corridor

The Farukhnagar and NH-48 clusters, which lie along the Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari belt and the national highway south-west of the capital, have drawn a large share of leasing. Colliers India, a separate consultant, reports the following for the two clusters:

• Grade A warehouse stock of about 31.5 million sq ft in Farukhnagar and 26.6 million sq ft in the NH-48 cluster.
• Average rents of ₹21–28 per sq ft per month, with growth of close to 30% over the last five years.
• Together, the two clusters accounted for nearly one-third of Colliers' year-to-date leasing in January to September 2026.

A separate land deal also points to supply. Anarock Capital has closed the sale of a 41-acre parcel on the Ballabhgarh-Sohna highway in the NCR, where it plans about 1 million sq ft of Grade A warehousing.

Different consultants, different numbers

Consultants measure NCR warehousing differently, so their figures should not be read side by side. Vestian reports NCR absorption of 1.27 million sq ft in Q3 2026, up 3% quarter on quarter. Colliers reports Delhi-NCR demand of 3.4 million sq ft for the same quarter. Colliers also puts vacancy across its eight leading markets at 16%. ANAROCK's 7.9% figure is a national number for the first nine months of 2026 and covers a different scope.

For occupiers, the rent trend matters most. ANAROCK's data shows Pune recorded the lowest vacancy but the slowest rental growth of the eight markets. In the NCR, high demand and rising rents mean occupiers in the highest-absorption market are paying more for space. Investors looking at the sector are seeing the same pattern in the rent figures.

ANAROCK did not announce any dated next steps with the release. Colliers expects rents to firm up by 5–10% a year across most high-activity clusters in the coming years, and expects total Grade A stock to grow by nearly 28% a year until 2029. For the Farukhnagar and NH-48 corridor, the next figures to watch are the rent and vacancy readings from the quarterly reports for the coming quarters.