Office rents rise 2.4% in Q3 on higher space absorption

Office space rentals rose 2.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2017, compared with a decline of 1.1 per cent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday.

This came as the amount of occupied office space increased by 10,000 sq m (nett) in the quarter, compared with an increase of 1,000 sq m (nett) in the previous quarter.

Prices of office space increased by 0.4 per cent in Q3, compared with the 1.4 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

URA said that at the end of Q3 2017, there was a total supply of about 607,000 square metres (sqm) of gross floor area of office space in the pipeline, compared with the 719,000 sq m GFA of office space in the pipeline in the previous quarter.

The stock of office space increased by 91,000 sq m (nett), compared with the increase of 76,000 sq m (nett) in the previous quarter.

As a result, the island-wide vacancy rate of office space at the end of Q3 rose to 13.3 per cent, from 12.4 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.