 According to real estate research consultancy firm CBRE, a limited supply of office space could boost rents this quarter and in turn spur investment and leasing activity.
Research head Desmond Sim noted that there is already pressure on rents for Grade A space and some tenants may want to renew leases before prices escalate. In addition, he said more investors - including private equity and sovereign wealth funds - may start to put money into the office market this year. Offices said to be on the market include AXA Tower at 8 Shenton Way and Keppel Reit's 92.8% stake in Prudential Tower. AXA Tower owner BlackRock is said to be seeking at least $1.35 billion, which works out to about $2,000 psf for the 674,000 sq ft of net lettable area. There is talk that Keppel Reit is looking at a price of $2,400 psf for Prudential Tower, which would value its stake at $531 million based on the 221,241 sq ft of space that it owns in the building. In a report published by CBRE yesterday, Grade A office rents jumped 2.1% between October and December last year from the preceding three months as many tenants went into expansion mode. Occupancy improved across the market and the overall vacancy rate fell 1.67 percentage points to 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Experts said these are signs the office market is finally on the mend, pointing out that rents have been declining since 2011 and stayed mostly stagnant in the first three quarters of last year. One major factor in the market recovery has been keener interest from Asian financial institutions, said the CBRE report. Japan's Mizuho Bank, for example, leased 110,000 sq ft of space in Asia Square Tower 2 late last year. Another factor that will boost rents is that while demand is beginning to expand, supply remains limited. CapitaGreen is the only major Grade A office project expected to be completed this year. No significant new supply is expected to hit the market next year and the Marina One project may come onstream only in 2016. Marina One, a mixed-use development in Marina South, will add about 1,880,000 sq ft of new office space. The project is expected to launch its residential units for sale this year for around $2,800 to $3,000 psf. Marina One is being developed by M+S, a 40-60 joint venture between Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings and Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional. For more District Guides, you can head over to iProperty.com Singapore. |
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