CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT) reported on Friday a distribution per unit (DPU) of 1.90 cents for the first quarter ended March 31.
This is 3.3 per cent higher than the 1.84 cents DPU CCT reported in the same quarter a year ago.
CCT’s distributable income for the three months rose 3.4 per cent to S$53.9 million from the previous year.
In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, CCT said the higher distributable income was due to higher interest income and a decline in trust and interest expense.
Meanwhile, CCT’s net property income remained almost flat at S$69.9 million compared to a year ago.
CCT adds that this was due to lower property expenses.
CCT’s CEO Lynette Leong said in the statement that “CCT’s portfolio showed resilience as its occupancy increased to 96.0 per cent notwithstanding a subdued leasing market owing to global economic uncertainty, while market occupancy registered 90.7 per cent.”
She added that “CCT’s Grade A office occupancy increased to 94.4 per cent against the market’s decline from 88.4 per cent to 87.1 per cent. A total of 94,300 square feet of new and renewed leases for both office and retail space were signed in the first quarter of 2012.”
Looking ahead, CCT says that “Singapore’s new office supply from 2012 to 2016 is estimated to be 6.7 million square feet”.
This averages about 1.3 million square feet annually and the new supply of 1.3 million square feet this year is already about 70 per cent committed by tenants.
However, CCT cautioned that short-term office demand will be subdued due to the current economic uncertainty.
CCT also said Grade A office average monthly market rents in the first quarter this year declined by 3.6 per cent to S$10.60 per square foot compared to S$11.00 per square foot in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 20 Apr 2012