SINGAPORE - The Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) rental index of retail space in the central region of Singapore slipped 1.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2018 over the previous three months.

This follows a 1.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in the previous quarter.

However, URA's price index of retail space in the central region rose 0.3 per cent quarter on quarter in Q3 after easing 1.3 per cent in Q2.

As at the end of Q3, there was a total supply of 501,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area (GFA) of retail space from projects in the pipeline, compared with the 498,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied retail space decreased by 26,000 sq m net lettable area (NLA) in Q3, contrasting with an increase of 21,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

The stock of retail space contracted by 11,000 sq m NLA, against the increase of 10,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

As a result, the islandwide vacancy rate of retail space rose to 7.6 per cent at the end of Q3, from 7.3 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.