The expansion will facilitate focus on project management, leasing and land transactions.
Cushman & Wakefield, the American real-estate major is planning to expand its India headcount by hiring 500 staff, reportedly by the end of 2017. The expansion is being planned in order to focus on project management, leasing and land transactions.
The international property consultant currently has 2,800 employees in India, including 200 who joined in the past few months. The company is now looking to strengthen its services, specially adding to the teams that are expected to see a greater growth momentum.
The property consultants’ hiring plan indicates expected growth in workflow from realty developers and landlords. At Cushman & Wakefield, workforce expansion will not only focus on individual hiring, but also team acquisitions to add specialised services.
According to the company, growth is expected to return to the realty sector in the next 18 months. He anticipates total commercial leasing to be around 60 million sq ft by the end of 2017, and development activities to cross 50 million sq ft in the commercial segment.
This growth in workforce will apparently help the company capture a greater market share. To support this growth, the company has also made some strategic hires across leasing, asset services and project management business.
With real-estate investment trusts also expected to take off by next year, the consultant is gearing up for the increased potential for professional asset services. It is planning to hire more than 200 site employees to cater to the growth in the asset services and facilities management business in 2017.
With 11 offices across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, Cushman & Wakefield expects REITable (real estate investment trust) office stock to reach about 450 million sq ft by 2020.