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A cyclist rides on the Esplanade Bridge as buildings meet in Singapore’s Central Business District on Monday, July 6, 2020.
Wei Leng Tay | Bloomberg | fake images
Office rents in Singapore saw their biggest drop in 11 years in the third quarter, official data showed on Friday, as the Covid-19 pandemic hit demand for commercial real estate leasing in the regional mall.
Rents for office space fell 4.5% quarterly in July-September, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed. That was the biggest quarterly drop since April-June 2009, when rents fell 7.7%.
The city-state, which is facing its deepest recession due to the pandemic, had implemented lockdown measures earlier this year and has been encouraging office workers to work from home, although some rules are being relaxed as they fall. coronavirus cases.
“The office market could continue to face significant headwinds in the coming quarters,” said Christine Li of real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.
However, the city-state office leasing market will benefit from expansion plans by companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance and gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, he added.
Despite the broader economic downturn, the city-state’s private housing market has held firm and prices rose 0.8% in the third quarter, unchanged from anticipated data, and a higher rise to 0.3% in the second quarter.
Last week’s data showed that Singapore’s private home sales rose to their highest level in more than two years in September, with analysts citing low interest rates and signs that the city-state’s economy is slowing down. recovering from a coronavirus drop.
