Majority of the corporates are said not to be in favour of locking their money in property as it calls for huge investments with comparatively unattractive returns, explained Cushman & Wakefield (India) Pvt Ltd executive director Ashish Welkar.

The market is thus, witnessing some of the corporate houses disposing their property in prime locations in the city. Companies like Reliance Industries and Bombay Dyeing sold their flats in Central Mumbai last month.

Mr Welkar added that companies prefer investing hard cash into running businesses as it offers better returns. This also improves the bottomline of the company, he reasoned. Most of the manufacturing companies are anyway not doing too well and with prices falling, investment in real estate is no more a scientific investment, he said.

"There will be three classes of people developing commercial properties, according to the requirements of corporates. While the developer builds the property, the investor would put in the money, and the third class is that of the owner," explained Mr Welkar.

"Smaller developers are already on the job and very soon, we are likely to see big names in the market," he added. In other cities like Bangalore and Delhi, groups of individuals come together and develop spaces which are not evident in Mumbai yet, he said. But once the mill lands are opened up for development, a large number of builders are expected to come into the picture.

This will also add to the supply of office space. "With shortage of good office space, the top end of the market is always occupied," said Mr Welkar.

With the business getting scientific, developers are not just paying attention to the aesthetics of the building but also the requirements of the end users. "Corporates working with tight budgets look for functional space," he added.

He said that developers would require to formulate marketing strategies like ensuring efficient use of space and the requirements of the tenants. "Some buildings at Andheri-Kurla are still vacant as they do not subscribe to the requirements of the occupiers," he explained. This is the reason for Gurgaon emerging as the alternate to Delhi. A large number of projects like Signature Towers & Global Business Park, DLF Square, First India Place and Palm Court are doing extremely well in Gurgaon. However, the demand is for `grade A' buildings. More and more companies like TCS, HCL, Hughes Software and GE continue to add space at regular intervals, according to a study conducted by Cushman & Wakefield.