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Retail property market may be on stronger recovery footing

But cautiously optimistic property market watchers noted that consumer spending is still tepid

Kalpana Rashiwala

Published Fri, Jan 25, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Singapore

A WAVE of cautious optimism has washed over the retail property market. This follows quarter-on-quarter upticks of above 1 per cent in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's retail rental and price indices for Singapore's central region. This was the first time both indexes had risen by this much since the series began in 2011.

But some industry watchers caution that given the generally tepid consumer spending in physical retail stores (among other factors), significant hikes in retail rents may be untenable.

The URA's rental index …