Singapore Office Rents & Prices Each Drop By 8.3% YOY In Q3

SINGAPORE – Prices of office space across the city-state declined by 8.36 percent year-on-year (YOY) in Q3 2020, while office rents suffered a slightly lower decline of 8.31 percent, based on a comparison of data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday morning (23 October 2020) and the same period a year ago.

On a quarterly basis, office prices edged up by 0.24 percent in the third quarter following a 4.30 percent quarter-on-quarter (QOQ) drop in Q2 2020. As for office rents, it fell 4.51 percent after seeing no movement in the prior quarter.

Moreover, island-wide office vacancy level dipped from 12.1 percent in the second quarter to 12.0 percent in Q3 2020. However, this is slightly higher than the vacancy rate of 10.6 percent recorded in Q3 2019.

“The amount of occupied office space decreased by 19,000 sq m (nett) in Q3 2020, compared with the decrease of 55,000 sq m (nett) in the previous quarter. Office space stock decreased by 33,000 sq m (nett) in Q3 2020, compared with the increase of 43,000 sq m (nett) in the previous quarter,” said the URA.

Comparatively, the amount of occupied office space rose by 71,000 sq m (nett) in Q3 2019 following an addition of 35,000 sq m (nett) in the prior quarter. Office space stock declined by 4,000 sq m (nett) in Q3 2019 after an increase of 7,000 sq m (nett) in Q2 2019.

At the end of Q3 2020, office space in the pipeline reached a gross floor area (GFA) of around 767,000 sq m versus 668,000 sq m in the prior quarter.

In the same period a year ago, office space in the pipeline hit roughly 738,000 sq m in GFA compared to 732,000 sq m in Q2 2019.