Property consultants upbeat about Singapore office market in second half

PROPERTY consultants are cautiously optimistic about prospects for the Singapore office market, at least in the second half of this year.

"While the first half of 2021 is expected to show the continued grappling of the pandemic, the latter half is expected to display better results," said CBRE's head of research for South-east Asia, Desmond Sim. "Should economic activity and business sentiment improve on the back of the vaccine roll-out, the office market is poised to benefit from employment gains," he added.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) office rental index for Singapore's central region fell 3.5 per cent quarter on quarter in Q4 2020, a smaller rate of decline compared with the 4.5 per cent drop in the Q3 2020. Net demand, measured by the change in occupied space, was positive 2,000 square metres in Q4 2020, contrasting with negative 19,000 sq m in Q3 2020. The islandwide vacancy rate dipped to 11.8 per cent at end-Q4 from 12 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.