Bookmark & Share
Prime office rents in Singapore, specifically those in Raffles Place and Marina Bay area, slid by 1.4 percent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2015, according to Knight Frank’s latest prime office rental index for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
The consultancy attributed the decline to “a double whammy of strong future supply and lower take-up on the back of a slowing economy.” Prime office rents there are also expected to decline over the next 12 months.
Overall, the region’s rental index edged up by 1.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, with average vacancy rate dipping by 0.1 percentage point. 11 out of the 19 markets tracked by the consultancy saw positive rental growth, five posted declines, while three witnessed no movement at all.
Tokyo led region with the highest quarterly rental growth of 7.1 percent, followed by Shanghai with 3 percent and New Delhi at 2 percent.
Bangkok, Hong Kong, Bengaluru, Sydney, Taipei, Seoul, Guangzhou and Kuala Lumpur recorded moderate rental gains ranging from 0.2 percent to 1.1 percent.
On the other hand, office rents held firm at Brisbane, Melbourne and Phnom Penh.
However, Jakarta and Perth witnessed the largest rental contraction of 5.3 percent and 5.8 percent respectively, while Mumbai, Beijing and Singapore logged a rental drop ranging from 0.3 percent to 1.4 percent.
Moving forward, prime office rents are expected to rise over the next 12 months at 9 Asia Pacific markets – Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh, Sydney and Melbourne.
While rents are forecasted to remain unchanged at Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi and Brisbane, they would likely fall in 7 cities — Seoul, Singapore, Jakarta, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing and Perth.
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
Related Articles:
CBD office rental growth weakens further