Singapore retail rents rise 2.3% q-o-q in Q4 2019: URA

RENTS of retail space in Singapore's central region rose 2.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 over the previous three months, following the same rate of increase in the third quarter of 2019, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Thursday.

For the whole of 2019, the retail rental index rose 2.9 per cent, contrasting with the 1 per cent drop in 2018.

URA's price index of retail space in the central region increased by 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 over the previous quarter, a bigger gain than the 1.1 per cent rise in the third quarter.

For the whole of 2019, the price index rose 1.3 per cent, after increasing 0.6 per cent in 2018.

Islandwide, as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019, there was a total supply of 333,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area of retail space from projects in the pipeline, higher than the 288,000 sq m at the end of the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied retail space increased by 26,000 sq m in net lettable area (NLA) in Q4 2019, compared with the increase of 29,000 sq m in the previous quarter. The stock of retail space expanded by 29,000 sq m in NLA in Q4 2019, compared with the rise of 16,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

URA said that as the changes in occupied retail space and stock of retail space were similar, the islandwide vacancy rate of retail space remained unchanged at 7.5 per cent as at the end of Q4 2019, from the previous quarter.