Beyond Base Rent: Uncovering True Occupancy Costs in Bangalore's Grade A Offices

Kritika Bhola
Dec 13, 2025
7 min read

The Grade A office market in Bangalore runs on glam brochures quoting base rents per sq. ft, but the astute tenant knows quite well that all important considerations pertain to total occupancy cost. This complete figure, encompassing CAM, parking, fit-outs, utilities, and those sneaky ops, balloons to 40-60% above headline rent. Such surprises bother businesses in corridors high on demand, like ORR, Whitefield, and North Bangalore. Mid tech firms and GCCs coming up here need to map these layers up front so that they do not run low on cash six months post-move-in.

Decoding Base Rent Myths

Base rent constitutes the visible tip of the iceberg: basically, a monthly per sq. ft. charge on super built-up area in Grade A marketing. Areas in prime locations like Bannerghatta Road parks or Victoria Layout towers quote close to market benchmarks, thus facilitating quick comparisons between buildings. However, that ignores the magic word efficiency factor—that is, carpet area versus super built-up, whereby 20-25% of your payments are aimed at common areas you never even touch directly.

Effective rent comes into play once CAM, parking, and taxes are stacked, reversing the initial hierarchy. A ₹95/sq ft deal in ORR just might prove costlier than that of ₹105/sq ft in Whitefield after factoring in complete costs, given that peripheral parks usually bundle light on the offering side. It is unsafe for tenants to dwell upon base numbers; overall spreadsheets expose the real per-seat economics that matter in the 100-500 headcount team benchmarking across 5-10 shortlists. Login Realty, with exclusive focus on Bangalore commercial leasing, accompanies clients in building these models during site evaluations.

Lease structures further complicate this: some gross rents carry CAM, while others disaggregate it for transparency, at the risk of being more volatile. In Bangalore's competitive market with a vacancy rate less than 10% for Grade A stock, understanding rent formats help avoid paying too much for perceived savings.

CAM Breakdown: Shared Luxury's Price Tag

While Common Area Maintenance (CAM) provides for the Grade A embellishments—elevators, lobbies, and security and power installations, landscaping, and BMS in tech campuses, it's charged on per sq ft basis monthly on super area in the highly elite Bengaluru buildings, reaching up to ₹20-35/sq ft for a comparative increase of ₹2-4 lakh for a 10,000 sq ft lease. ORR parks like IBC Knowledge lead with "cost-plus" models, reconciling actuals yearly and passing escalations in wages or diesel.

Breakups Matter: the core CAM encompasses housekeeping and power; other add-ons like insurance or sinking funds for capex are included but are not visible to the naked eye. For example, a tenant in Whitefield would pay for collateral amenities that attract talent but would also be subjected to an annual increment of 10-15%, all scripted in fine print. Negotiate audits, inclusions lists, and 5% escalation lids; institutional owners like Brigade disclose trends, easing forecasts. Login Realty advisors track these CAM histories across micros, flagging variances in term sheets.

Between the forecast and expected economic conditions, CAM would increase in 2025 by 8-12% across the city due to increased energy costs and rising labor. This makes pre-lease benchmarking indispensable, as educed by occupier guides.

Stealth Monthly Blow for Parking

Grade A comes with a basement, but parking space is hardly ever free. Owners charge between ₹3000-6000 a month for one car and around ₹500-1000 for a two-wheeler. This is unbundled from 70% of the deals. When a 200-seater office claims 40 cars, an addition of ₹1.2-2.4 lakh monthly gets spilled to public lots in crowded Hebbal or E-City.

Policy 2.0 calls for ratios (1:1,000 sq ft cars), but these premiums are still available near Yellow Line stations, where demand skyrockets 25% upon inauguration. Leadership perks inflate the bills; model 1.2-1.5x standard for client-heavy firms. Hybrid shifts would cut needs by 20-30, yet visitor slots still remain fixed costs. Login Realty benchmarks parking entitlements in leases for ORR and North Bangalore parks.

Contrasting: ORR structured parks would offer ample parking at average prices; CBD towers ration access through waitlists, elevating effective costs. Total models would have to project parking patterns for three to five years, considering metro access cutting cab budgets by 30%.

Fit-Outs: Capex Masquerading as Rent

Interior devouring budget: ₹1,200-2,500/sq ft mid-tier Bangalore Grade A, which encompasses MEP, partitions, AV, wellness nook, and amortizing ₹2 crore 10,000 sq ft outlay over 60 months, which adds up to ₹33/sq ft in monthly charge rivaling base rent. Premiums touch ₹4,000+/sq ft for biophilic or LEED fits in bhive-style spaces.

Furniture costs (₹500-900/sq ft), wiring (₹250/sq ft), and tech infrastructure add another 20-30%. Bare shells entice investors with low rents but also ask for these upfront; warm shells, on the other hand, cut capex in half, courtesy of landlord HVAC. Flex operators such as Evoma, on the other hand, stretch recovery through per-seat rates of ₹15-25k.

Login Realty guides its tenants on whether to opt for bare versus warm shell fits according to their stage of growth. Cushman places national averages for 2025 increases at 10%, driven primarily by labor shortage skills. Tenants' amortization periods are usually conservative at 3-5 years, stress testing hybrid densities, which reduce seat requirements by 15-20%.

Power and Soft Services: Drain on Utilities

Power in an in-house situation averages ₹15-25/sq ft per month; within very dense IT setups, this is billed additional to the CAM common share. Chillers and servers both spike through meters. Internet redundancy (100-500 Mbps) runs somehow from ₹50k to 2 lakh a month; housekeeping/pantry staff cost another ₹1-2 lakh for 200 heads.

Operations in the pantry—coffee, snacks, vending—are added to the sweetener of ₹50-100/head/month, marginally increasing with Grade A expectations with facility apps to control these; however, unmodeled, they eat into margins 5-10%. Efficiencies like LEDs retrofitted or bought power partnership deals amount to a gypsy 15-20%, according to Colliers. Of course, everything gets impacted: rent, CAM, utils—GST@18%. The cash outflow increases before pre-credit. Year 1 total for 10k sq ft often surprises at 50% over rent alone budgets.

Escalations, Taxes, and Lease Traps

5-10% additions are yearly compounded rent step costs, while CAM pass-throughs would have taxes bundled with them as well as wages (9% minimum wages increase 2026). Super-carpet definitions of RERA clash with efficient billing; around 75-80% catch that threshold. Clauses recover landlords' capex through sinking funds-an audit or cap them. Login Realty reviews these clauses for balanced tenant protections.

Long-term models are likely to forecast the effective rent for Year 3 up by 25-40% pegged to indices. These also have different input credits but with exporters feeling the full song of GST.

Real Bangalore Grade A

Scenario 1: 12,000 sq ft ORR tech park. Base rate, ₹92/sq ft; Incidentally, it amounts to ₹1.1 crore/annum. CAM is ₹28 (which equals ₹40 lakh); 30-car parking ratio: 1.5 cr/year; fit-out amortisation ₹2.5cr/5y (₹50lakh); utilities cost ₹25/sq ft (₹36 lakh). Altogether, that adds up to ₹2.3cr/year: equivalent to ₹160/sq ft effective—76% rent uplift.

Scenario 2: Whitefield light, ₹105 base but ₹18 CAM, free-parking ratio, partial fit landlord aid. Effective ₹145/sq ft, but lower on a per-seat basis because of density. Metro cuts utils 10%. Such comparisons have been facilitated by Login Realty within the other corridors.

North Bangalore hybrids favor flex: All-in at ₹20,000/seat beats wrong modeling errors associated with tradition.

The Tenant Toolkit for Mastery of Costs

Create an Excel table: Rows designate rent/CAM/parking/fit/utils/tax/escal; columns designate buildings/years. Per-seat compute: grossable area 80-100 sq ft, hybrid adjustment -20%. Benchmark against Propstack CAM snapshots. Local players like Login Realty should be consulted for micro-market CAM histories and tweaking of the term sheet. Areas may be verified via RERA portals pre-LOI.

Strategic Implications for Bangalore Growth

Undervaluation adds crores across cycles; modeled deals yield 10-20% savings through negotiations. Grade A premiums justified by talent pulls so long as per-desk remains light. As 2026 supply lands at ORR/North, early movers stand to gain on favorable CAM/parking. Login Realty puts its clients strategically ahead on these shifts.

GCCs compared with Hyderabad/Chennai; Bangalore's infra advantage warrants cost discipline. The smart firms treat occupancy as P&L line rather than overhead for facilities-this translates into hybrid-optimized, ESG-aligned spaces.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What exactly is total occupancy cost in Bangalore office leases?
Total occupancy cost sums base rent, CAM, parking, fit-outs (amortized), utilities, taxes, and soft services—often 40-60% above headline rent in Grade A buildings. This holistic view prevents surprises for businesses in ORR or Whitefield.
How much does CAM typically cost in Bangalore Grade A offices?
CAM ranges ₹20-35 per sq ft monthly on super built-up area, covering security, lifts, and landscaping—adding ₹2-4 lakh for 10,000 sq ft leases. Expect 8-12% annual rises from energy/labor; negotiate caps and audits.
Are parking charges included in base rent for Grade A spaces?
No, 70% of deals unbundle parking at ₹3,000-6,000 per car/month plus two-wheelers, inflating 200-seater bills by ₹1.2-2.4 lakh monthly. Metro proximity cuts needs 20-30% via hybrid models.
What are average fit-out costs for Bangalore corporate offices?
Mid-tier Grade A fit-outs run ₹1,200-2,500 per sq ft (MEP, partitions, AV); amortize ₹2 crore over 5 years adds ₹33/sq ft monthly. Flex spaces like Evoma bundle at ₹15-25k per seat.
How does GST impact total occupancy costs?
18% GST applies to rent, CAM, and utilities, boosting cash outflow pre-credit—exporters feel the full hit. Year 1 totals for 10k sq ft often exceed rent-only budgets by 50%.
What escalations should tenants watch in leases?
5-10% annual rent hikes plus CAM pass-throughs for taxes/wages (9% min wage 2026) swell effective rent 25-40% by year 3. Login Realty flags these in term sheet reviews.
How to calculate effective rent per seat?
Divide total monthly costs (rent + CAM + parking + utils + amort fit-out) by seats at 80-100 sq ft norms, hybrid-adjusted -20%. Excel models benchmark ORR vs Whitefield accurately.
Do bare shell vs warm shell affect total costs?
Bare shells cut base rent but spike upfront fit-outs; warm shells halve capex via landlord HVAC, suiting scalers. Login Realty aligns choices with growth phases.
How has metro expansion changed parking and utils?
Yellow Line boosts demand 25%, slashing cab costs 30% but hiking parking premiums near stations. Utils drop 10% with better access.
Can Login Realty help model total occupancy costs?
Login Realty provides micro-market CAM/parking benchmarks and lease clause reviews for balanced deals across Bangalore corridors.