Q3 rents for Singapore retail space slips further, but prices hold steady

Oct 22, 2021

RETAIL property rents in Singapore's central region continued to retreat in the third quarter of this year, although prices of retail spaces remained flat.

According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) retail rental index released on Friday (Oct 22), rents fell by a sharper 2.7 per cent in Q3 2021, after chalking up a 0.5 per cent dip in Q2.

Meanwhile, URA's price index for retail space in the central region remained unchanged in Q3, following a decline of 2.8 per cent in Q2.

On an islandwide basis, as at the end of Q3 2021, there was a total supply of 428,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area of retail space from projects in the pipeline, up 2.1 per cent from 419,000 sq m as at end-Q2 2021.

The amount of occupied retail space expanded by 33,000 sq m net lettable area (NLA) in Q3 2021, compared with an increase of 14,000 sq m NLA in the previous quarter. The stock of retail space increased by 7,000 sq m NLA in Q3 2021, after a larger 18,000 sq m increase in the previous quarter.

This resulted in the islandwide vacancy rate of retail space decreasing from 8.5 per cent as at end-Q2 2021 to 8.1 per cent as at end-Q3 2021.