Singapore office rents flat in Q2 2020 but vacancy rises to 12.1%: URA

RENTALS of office space in the central region of Singapore remained unchanged in the second quarter of 2020 over the previous three months. This compares with a 0.8 per cent drop in the first quarter of this year.

Figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday also showed that prices of office space in the central region contracted 4.3 per cent in Q2 2020, after easing 4 per cent in the previous quarter.

Islandwide, as at the end of the second quarter of 2020, there was a total supply of about 668,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area (GFA) of office space in the pipeline, compared with 682,000 sq m at the end of the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied office space decreased by 55,000 sq m of net lettable area (NLA) in the second quarter of 2020, a much bigger drop than the 7,000 sq m decrease in the previous quarter. On the other hand, the stock of office space expanded by 43,000 sq m NLA in the second quarter, after rising 33,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

As a result, the islandwide vacancy rate of office space rose to 12.1 per cent as at the end of Q2 2020, from 11 per cent at end-Q1 2020.