While there was no addition of fresh supply in the office space market in Kolkata , the first quarter of the new calendar year took off on a positive note in the city with absorptions higher than that in same period last year.With 0.2 million sq ft of office space absorption between January and March, the city showed a rise from the same period last year where absorption stood at 170,000 sq ft.Even with absorptions in office space the vacancy in the segment remained at 25%, mainly because of the vacancy rate in peripheral areas of Sector V, New Town and Rajarhat being over almost 40%.According to a latest report by Colliers, on a quarter on quarter basis rents in the central business district and Sector V, Salt Lake saw a correction in the range of 2%-5%.“We expect the rents to drop further in the dame range in the coming quarters as property owners would likely remain flexible on rents in order to boost occupancy levels,“ said Swapan Dutta, senior associate director, office services at Colliers International, India.The major transactions between January and March include TVS Motors leasing 75,000 sq ft office space on NH6 in Calstar Steel building, PWC SDC taking up 35,000 sq ft of office space on lease at Srijan Corporate Park followed by Oppo Mobile taking up 20000 sq ft in Axis Mall at New Town.The city also hardly saw any new supply in the segment in the year gone by with no new construction scheduled for 2017.“There is hardly any Grade A space addition scheduled to happen in the city even in the peripheral areas due to high vacancy levels in the city as well as in the peripheral areas where there is close to 20 lakh sq ft of available office space“ said Rahul Baid, head of corporate transactions at city based consultancy firmChampalall & Co.One of the prominent new properties Technopolis 2 by Forum Projects in the Bantala area with close to 1.2 million sq ft of office space that was scheduled for a 2017 launch has also pushed their take-off until 2018.The rental values in CBD area saw a quarter on quarter dip of 5% and stood between Rs 80 and Rs 110, the Sector V area saw a 6% year on year dip in rentals and stood at a range between Rs 38 and Rs 45 However, with improvement in the city's infrastructure the demand for more quality space is also expected to grow especially in the peripheral areas.“We expect urban infrastructure to get a boost as work on the East West Metro Corridor from Howrah Maidan to Santragachi bus terminus is going on at full swing and is likely to see completion in 2018.The East West Metro will significantly augment connectivity in the areas of Newtown, Salt Lake and Rajarhat in the east,“ added Dutta.