Central area retail rents, prices resume slide after short recovery

Singapore

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority's rental and price indices for retail space in Singapore's central region both resumed their downtrend in the second quarter after inching up briefly in the previous quarter.

Islandwide, the vacancy rate of retail space fell to 7.3 per cent as at the end of Q2 2018, from 7.5 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.

"The retail vacancy contraction in tandem with a sustained rental decline are telling of the sector's re-balancing act as retail landlords trade off historically high rents for m…