Office demand strong in Downtown Core; rosier hopes for 2018

Singapore

THE Downtown Core area, which includes the financial district, was the star in terms of net office demand in the fourth quarter as well as the whole of last year.

The area saw net demand - as measured by the change in occupied space - of 43,000 square metres (about 463,000 sq ft) in Q4 2017. This was the highest in more than five years (since Q3 2012), based on property consultants' analysis of latest figures by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). For full-year 2017, net demand in the Downtown Core area rose to slightly over 1 million sq ft - three times the 333,700 sq ft in 2016 and the highest since 2012's 1.42 million sq ft.