CDL’s Singapore Office Occupancy Dipped In Q1 2023

SINGAPORE – The occupancy rate of City Developments Limited’s (CDL) office properties here declined marginally during the first three months of the year, according to the property developer’s latest operational update that was published on the local bourse on Friday evening (19 May, SGT).

As at 31 March 2023, the local real estate developer recorded a committed occupancy level of 94.3 percent for its office portfolio in the city-state.

While that’s better than Singapore’s overall office occupancy of 88.8 percent, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) data, it’s slightly lower than the 95.2 percent committed occupancy registered at the end of FY2022 that was announced in February.

In particular, CDL’s flagship Grade A office building in Singapore, Republic Plaza, saw a committed occupancy of 93.2 percent, with a positive office rental reversion of 8.9 percent at the end of the first quarter.

The developer’s fully-owned Singapore office assets that registered higher occupancy rates were City House and King’s Centre, which were 96.7 percent and 100 percent occupied during the period under review.

In the United Kingdom, CDL completed in Q1 2023 its purchase of St Katharine Docks, a 23-acre freehold mixed-use marina estate in Central London for £395 million (about S$636 million) or £751 psf (S$1,209 psf) based on the commercial development’s existing net leasable area (NLA).

The commercial property consists of more than 500,000 sq ft of Grade A office space, retail premises, F&B space and residential units housed across four primary buildings and supporting ancillary spaces.

At present, St Katharine Docks’ office component enjoys a robust occupancy rate of 90 percent with well-diversified tenants from different industries, like shipping, education, consulting, and co-working.

Furthermore, the mixed-use commercial property comes with a marina that can accommodate up to 185 yachts.