Singapore Office Rental Growth Slows to 2.3% In Q2

SINGAPORE – Monthly office rents in the city-state edged up by 2.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2023, which is slower than the 5.1 percent office rental growth recorded during the first quarter of the year, according to the latest real estate statistics published by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (28 July, SGT).

On a year-on-year basis, Singapore office rents increased by 15.41 percent during the second quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, office prices inched up by 1.0 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2023 after remaining unchanged in the preceding quarter. On an annual basis, Singapore office prices rose by merely 1.91 percent.

At the end of Q2 2023, there was a total upcoming office supply of around 927,000 sq m (9.98 million sq ft) by gross floor area (GFA) versus the 837,000 sq m (9 million sq ft) pipeline registered in the previous quarter.

During Q2 2023, the supply of office space in Singapore dropped by 7,000 sq m or 75,347 sq ft (nett) compared with the office stock growth of 14,000 sq m or 150,695 sq ft (nett) in the prior three-month period. Consequently, the overall office vacancy rate in the city-state fell to 10.8 percent at the end of the second quarter from 11.2 percent at the end of Q1 2023.

In particular, the amount of occupied office space in Singapore increased by 30,000 sq m or 322,917 sq ft (nett) in the second quarter of the year, up from the 21,000 sq m or 226,042 sq ft (nett) additional leased workspace during Q1 2023.