SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Rents of office space in Singapore's central region rose 1.6 per cent quarter on quarter, picking up from the 0.9 per cent increase in previous quarter, figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) released on Friday (April 22) showed.
URA's price index for office space in the central region climbed 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year, reversing from the 1.8 per cent drop in the previous quarter.
As at the end of March 2022, there was a total supply of about 834,000 sq m in gross floor area of office space in the pipeline islandwide. That is about 6.1 per cent more than the 786,000 sq m of pipeline supply as at the end of 2021.
Islandwide, the vacancy rate remained at 12.8 per cent at the end of March this year, unchanged from December. This came as net demand, as measured by the change in occupied space, as well as the stock of office space both fell quarter on quarter.
The amount of occupied office space shrank by 13,000 sq m, a bigger decrease than the 10,000 sq m drop in the fourth quarter of last year. The stock fell by 17,000 sq m in the first quarter of this year, compared with the decrease of 23,000 sq m in the previous quarter.
Rents of retail space edged down by 0.4 per cent quarter on quarter in the first quarter of this year, contrasting with the 0.6 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year, the latest URA data showed.
Prices of retail space in the central region also weakened, by 1.4 per cent, versus the 1.9 per cent rise in the previous quarter.
Islandwide, the vacancy rate for retail space reached 8.3 per cent as at the end of March, up from 8.1 per cent as at the end of December last year.
URA said this came as the amount of occupied retail space shrank by 12,000 sq m in the first quarter, reversing from the increase of 25,000 sq m in the prior quarter. Meanwhile, the stock of retail space grew just 1,000 sq m, substantially slower than the 25,000 sq m rise in the fourth quarter of last year.
There was a total supply of 415,000 sq m in gross floor area of retail space from projects in the pipeline islandwide, as at the end of March. That is up 2.5 per cent from the 405,000 sq m in pipeline supply at the end of 2021.
