Singapore office rents rise 1.3% q-o-q in Q2; vacancy rates fall to 11.5%: URA

RENTS of office space in the central region of Singapore rose 1.3 per cent in the second quarter of this year over the previous three months. This contrasts with the drop of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, according to figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released on Friday.

URA's price index of office space in the central region rose 0.9 per cent in second quarter 2019, a slower pace of increase compared with the 3.0 per cent gain in the previous quarter.

As at the end of second quarter 2019, there was a total supply of about 732,000 square metres in gross floor area of office space in the pipeline, a tad lower than the 733,000 sq m of space in the pipeline as at the end of the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied office space rose by 35,000 sq m in net lettable area (NLA) in the second quarter, compared with the increase of 19,000 sq m in the previous quarter. The stock of office space increased by 7,000 sq m NLA, compared with the drop of 6,000 sq m NLA in the previous quarter.

As a result, the island-wide vacancy rate of office space declined to 11.5 per cent as at the end of second quarter 2019, from 11.8 per cent as at the end of the previous quarter.