Amid 5-year Low Mall Vacancy in 7 Cities, NCR’s Rate Almost Double MMR’s

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.

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.”