Rents, prices of Singapore industrial space unchanged in Q4 2018: JTC

RENTALS and prices of industrial space in Singapore remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of 2018 over the preceding quarter, according to the latest data from industrial land and infrastructure agency JTC Corp.

Compared with a year ago, the price index was also unchanged while the the rental index eased 0.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the occupancy rate of the overall industrial property market for the fourth quarter of last year rose by 0.2 percentage point to 89.3 per cent compared with the previous quarter. Compared with a year ago, the occupancy rate rose by 0.4 percentage point.

For industrialists looking to own production spaces, about 60 units in uncompleted strata-titled developments remained available for sale at end-December 2018. These units totalled about 22,000 square metres of space, and will provide options for industrialists to site or relocate their operations to these developments.

JTC also said that based on the number of caveats lodged for industrial properties, the transaction volume in the fourth quarter of 2018  was down 5.0 per cent from the previous quarter, but up 34 per cent year on year.

This year, another 1.5 million sq m of industrial space, including 303,000 sq m of multiple-user factory space, is estimated to come on-stream; this is about 3 per cent of  the current industrial stock. In comparison, the average annual supply and demand of industrial space in the past three years were around 1.4 million sq m and 1.1 million sq m respectively.

"With more supply coming on-stream, it will continue to support the expansion plans of industrialists," JTC said.