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Singapore CBD Grade A office rents may cross pre-pandemic peak by Q3: JLL

By

lucy

Posted in News On

GRADE A office rents in Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD) continued their steady upward momentum for the fifth straight quarter in Q2 2022 to recover to 0.6 per cent below the pre-pandemic peak of S$10.81 per square foot (psf) per month in Q4 2019, according to JLL Singapore.

Based on figures provided by the firm on Wednesday (Jun 29), Grade A CBD office rents rose 2.7 per cent to S$10.74 psf per month in the latest quarter from S$10.46 in Q1 2022.

Notably, Marina Bay experienced the sharpest quarter-on-quarter rent growth at 3.4 per cent, among the 4 CBD submarkets tracked by JLL, due to its “relatively new and good quality” office developments.

Tay Huey Ying, JLL Singapore’s head of research and consultancy, attributes the latest quarter’s growth to an increase in business confidence arising from the relaxation of safe management measures, which allowed for all employees to return to workplaces from Apr 26, 2022.

She added that expansions and new set ups also “far overshadowed” workplace downsizing, leading to Q2 2022 net absorption of CBD Grade A office space reaching the highest in 17 quarters.

While Tay noted that geopolitical and economic uncertainties could temper business confidence and dampen occupier demand for office space in H2 2022, the availability of space in the CBD still remains tight.