SINGAPORE - The Urban Redevelopment Authority's rental index of retail space in the central region inched up 0.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year over the fourth quarter of last year.

This compares with a 0.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in Q4 2017.

URA's price index of retail space in the central region also inched up 0.1 per cent quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2018 after slipping 1 per cent in Q4 2017.

At the end of Q1 2018, there was a total supply of 530,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area (GFA) of retail space from projects in the pipeline, 4.1 per cent higher than the the 509,000 sq m GFA of retail space in the pipeline at the end of the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied retail space remained unchanged in Q1 2018, compared with the increase of 64,000 sq m net lettable area (NLA) in the previous quarter. The stock of retail space increased by 11,000 sq m NLA in Q1 2018, compared with the increase of 18,000 sq m NLA in the previous quarter.

As a result, the islandwide vacancy rate of retail space increased to 7.5 per cent at the end of Q1 2018 from 7.4 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.