Singapore Office Rents Up 2.1% In Q3: URA

SINGAPORE – Rents of office space within the city-state’s central region edged by 2.1 percent quarter-on-quarter during the 3-month period that ended in September – a slightly slower office rental growth than the 2.4 percent increase seen in Q2, according to the 3rd Quarter 2022 real estate statistics published by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday morning (28 October, SGT).

Nonetheless, Singapore office rents climbed by 7.2 percent on an annual basis.

Aside from that, the vacancy rate of office space in the central region tightened further to 11.7 percent in Q3 2022 from 12 percent during the preceding quarter and 12.9 percent during the corresponding period last year.

The URA revealed that the amount of occupied office space during the period under review rose by about 258,334 sq ft (nett). While the figure is similar to what was recorded in the prior quarter, it’s a far cry from Q3 2021, when the amount of occupied office space fell by around 53,820 sq ft.

In addition, office supply in the central region declined by about 21,528 sq ft during the 3rd quarter following an office stock plunge of around 473,612 sq ft in Q2 2022 and an additional office supply of roughly 279,862 sq ft in Q3 2021.

While the prices of such office properties dipped by 2.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2022, it’s a milder drop from the 5.1 percent contraction during the 2nd quarter of the year. Compared to the 3rd quarter of 2021, prices of office buildings in the central region dropped by 5.33 percent.

At the end of Q3 2022, overall supply of office space in the pipeline by gross floor area (GFA) reached around 9.24 million sq ft versus 9.34 million sq ft during the 2nd quarter. In comparison, the office supply pipeline in Q3 2021 stood at 8.13 million sq ft.