SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Retail property rents and prices in Singapore's central region continued to slide in the second quarter of this year.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) rental index for retail space in the region fell 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of this year over the previous quarter. This was a smaller pace of decline compared with the 4.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop in the first quarter of 2021.

URA's price index for retail space in the central region eased 2.8 per cent quarter on quarter in the second quarter of 2021. This followed a drop of 3.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2021.

On an islandwide basis, as at the end of the second quarter of 2021, there was a total supply of 419,000 sq m gross floor area of retail space from projects in the pipeline, slightly lower than the 428,000 sq m as at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

The amount of occupied retail space grew by 14,000 sq m net lettable area (NLA) in the second quarter of 2021, compared with the increase of 28,000 sq m NLA in the previous quarter.

The stock of retail space increased by 18,000 sq m NLA in the second quarter of 2021, after growing by 10,000 sq m in the previous quarter.