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Real estate experts revealed that Singapore’s office and retail property market are benefitting from the strong demand for co-working spaces, reported the Straits Times.
According to Edmund Tie & Company Research Head Lee Nai Jia, the emergence of this new type of working space has helped increase office rents and occupancy rates.
In fact, rents here edged up by 2.4 percent on a quarterly basis in Q3 2017, reversing the 1.1 percent dip in the preceding three-month period based on figures from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
“We saw the co-working operators taking up much space in the newly completed buildings in 2017,” said Lee.
For instance, local firm JustCo has occupied two levels at the UIC building in Shenton Way, while Hong Kong-based The Work Project leased the entire fourth floor at the adjacent OUE Downtown. Moreover, global co-working giant WeWork will operate its first space in Singapore at Beach Centre.
According to JustCo Founder and CEO Kong Wan Sing, co-working spaces are creating new opportunities for landlords, especially for mall owners.
“Co-working space is becoming a prevalent option for vacant retail malls” as landlords transform their shopping complexes into community hubs in a bid to attract more clients.
For example, Katong Point has just brought in Mox as an anchor tenant. The co-working space operator has opened a facility in the mall last month that targets people from the creative industry, with amenities like 3D printers and industrial-grade sewing machines.
The facility is a $1 million partnership between mall owner Buxani Group and Invade, a retail and events management company.
“Over the last few years, the retail landscape in Singapore has deteriorated quickly (due to) e-commerce and disruptive technologies. As a result, I realised that I had to be one step ahead and create something unique,” said Buxani Group’s CEO Kishore Buxani.
In addition, JLL Singapore’s Head of Consulting Chin Peidi expects more property owners to take advantage of the growing popularity of co-working spaces.
“They could actively seek to include co-working spaces within their portfolio by partnering operators or even set up their own co-working spaces. The winners would be the landlords that are able to capitalise on the trend to drive occupancy and footfall to their developments.”
This article was edited by Keshia Faculin.
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