Frasers Property sets aside S$45m in further rental rebates for tenants

Frasers Property is setting aside S$45 million to provide further rental rebates for tenants across all its retail malls, becoming the latest landlord to pass on savings from the enhanced property tax rebates announced in the government's Resilience Budget.

In addition to the rental rebates, tenants will receive the full property tax rebates announced in the government's Resilience Budget. Cash security deposits will also be released to offset one month's worth of rental payments.

Frasers Property also said on Friday that a one-month rental waiver will be granted to all entertainment venues, enrichment centres and tuition centres that have been ordered to close as part of government measures to curb the spread of Covid-19. 

The new support measures will apply to tenants across the group's combined retail portfolio of malls in Singapore, including those held under Frasers Centrepoint Trust and those managed by AsiaMalls Management. The case differs with Eastpoint Mall, which Frasers Property runs, but is owned by NTUC Income.

Frasers Property said these rental rebates will be disbursed to tenants in "a targeted manner, prioritised by individual needs and circumstances". Combining the rental rebates, property tax rebates and offsetting of cash security deposit, all tenants will get some form of relief from rental payments for the months of April and May, the landlord added. 

This  S$45-million kitty follows a tenant-support package Frasers Property announced late February. 

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As part of a landmark budget to mitigate the fallout from the Covid-19 crisis, the government on Thursday expanded the earlier-announced property tax rebates; commercial properties that qualified for Budget 2020's rebates of 15 to 30 per cent will now pay zero property tax for 2020.

Non-residential properties like offices and industrial properties will get a new property tax rebate of 30 per cent. 

Mapletree Commercial Trust and CapitaLand have announced additional rental relief for tenants. 

The commercial property tax savings are estimated to amount to 1.2 month's worth of rent, a marked boost from the earlier round, in which savings would have corresponded to five to six days of rent.

However, analysts have said that the impact on the retail, office and industrial Reits should be neutral if they pass on these savings.