AI’s effect on office property may involve changing how space is used rather than simply reducing it. Colliers’ Asia Pacific workplace research says 47% of surveyed occupiers expect AI-related space reconfiguration, compared with 36% expecting reductions. The findings offer a planning signal for Indian commercial real estate, not a forecast of additional square footage. [1]
Hindustan Times covered the findings on 15 October at 5:25:38 PM IST. [2] However, Colliers’ original research page is dated 9 October. Today’s coverage should therefore not be mistaken for the report’s first publication or a new lease transaction.
What the Colliers office survey measures
Colliers describes research spanning more than 300 office occupier clients across 11 Asia Pacific markets. Its published summary says every respondent expects AI to create new roles and skills. It also identifies a planning gap: 57% have not connected the anticipated workforce changes with upcoming lease decisions. [1]
These are responses about expectations and strategy. They do not establish how many Indian employers have approved refurbishment budgets, signed leases or changed their occupied area. Nor should regional percentages be presented as an India-only sample.
The distinction matters because a company can redesign an existing office without taking more space. Alternatively, it can consolidate several premises while upgrading the facilities retained. Neither decision can be inferred from a survey percentage alone.
Bengaluru and Hyderabad provide a separate demand check
Actual Indian office activity supplies useful context. Cushman & Wakefield’s release of 13 October reports 14.1 million square feet of net absorption across eight major cities during July–September 2026. That was 26% above the preceding quarter but 18% below the year-earlier period. Hyderabad accounted for 4.1 million square feet and Bengaluru for 4.02 million. [3]
The consultancy separately reports approximately 22 million square feet of gross leasing during the quarter and 22.7 million square feet of new completions. Gross leasing includes renewals and pre-leasing; net absorption measures the change in occupied stock. These measures are not interchangeable. [3]
The leasing report does not demonstrate that AI caused the activity. It provides a market baseline against which future workplace decisions can be assessed, rather than proof of the survey’s expectations becoming transactions.
What office landlords should assess before spending
BrickBharat’s assessment is that adaptability deserves closer examination than a generic claim that a building is “AI-ready”. A landlord considering upgrades can test whether proposed changes meet a tenant’s actual requirements: a different balance of meeting and individual-work areas, reliable connectivity, or facilities suited to new work processes.
The commercial question is who pays, when the work can happen and whether the tenant has committed to remain. A fit-out proposal is not equivalent to a signed lease extension. Owners should also distinguish improvements that serve multiple prospective tenants from highly specialised expenditure that may be difficult to reuse.
These are analytical implications, not recommendations drawn from a disclosed project budget. The reviewed material does not quantify a rental premium for AI-related refurbishment.
What occupiers and property investors should watch
For businesses, the useful starting point is a workforce plan matched to lease expiry dates. A decision about area made before teams understand their changing work patterns can create a mismatch between contractual space and operational needs.
For investors, the next evidence should be property-specific: executed renewals, actual occupancy, refurbishment expenditure and rent achieved after incentives. A building’s technology narrative cannot substitute for those operating measures. Regional survey sentiment also cannot establish the value of an individual Bengaluru or Hyderabad office asset.
The central takeaway is therefore narrower than either an office boom or an AI-driven collapse. Employers expect workplace requirements to evolve, while India’s office markets continue to record measurable leasing activity. Whether those trends produce larger footprints, redesigned premises or consolidation will depend on decisions that still need to be documented.
Sources and verification
- Colliers — Asia Pacific Workplace Insights. Official research summary dated 9 October 2026; no publication time displayed. Accessed 15 October 2026. Primary source for regional survey scope and findings. The full report download requires a contact form; it was not submitted or retrieved.
- Hindustan Times — AI and office formats: Colliers survey. By Mehul R Thakkar; published 15 October 2026, 17:25:38 IST. Used to establish today's coverage; substantive survey figures above were checked against Colliers' original summary.
- Cushman & Wakefield — India office market, Q3 2026. By Aditi Vij; dated 13 October 2026; publication time not displayed. Primary source for separate quarterly market measurements, not evidence of AI causation.
Verification limits: This article synthesises an official survey summary and separate original market research. It does not claim access to respondent-level data, an India-only survey breakdown, executed lease contracts or a verified AI-related rent premium. The fresh item is today's coverage of earlier research, not a newly announced project.