AI may wreak havoc on Singapore’s office buildings

UNLIKE in many major cities, office buildings here survived the Covid-19 pandemic well. Many knowledge workers in Singapore now largely work out of physical offices. This contrasts with the resistance of workers in some other cities to return to physical offices.

Helped by political stability, rule of law, strong connectivity, good infrastructure and growth prospects in the region, Singapore has also done well in drawing businesses from diversified sectors to grow their operations here.

Compared with the pre-pandemic period in Q4 2019, the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s property rental index of private sector office space in the central region rose 18.7 per cent in Q3 2024. Meanwhile, the vacancy rate of public and private sector office space islandwide was 11 per cent in Q3 2024 versus 10.5 per cent in Q4 2019.