LOWER occupancy rates and cheaper rents in office buildings around the central business district (CBD) may prompt some firms to move back into the city, property experts said. In the second quarter, office rentals declined to less than $10 per square foot (psf) per month compared with a whopping $19 psf a month a year ago. "Companies are beginning to re-look opportunities to go back to the CBD as rents...
Office / Retail Space
Property consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) has said the fall in office rents is showing signs of easing, thanks to improved sentiment and stabilisation of Singapore's economy. According to CBRE, monthly prime office rents averaged S$8.60 per square foot in the second quarter, representing an 18.2 per cent fall quarter-on-quarter. This was slightly lower than the 18.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter...
Property consultancy DTZ said office and industrial rents here continued their downward trend in the second quarter this year. For the office market, average monthly gross rents of prime offices in Raffles Place fell by 19 per cent to S$9.70 per square foot, compared to a 25 per cent fall in the previous quarter. Office rents in the Central Business District (CBD) fringe and de-centralised areas suffered...
While several new malls are being built along Orchard Road, Meritus Mandarin Hotel has been quietly renovating its shopping wing. Mandarin Gallery will re-open in December, competing with new entrants on the prime shopping district for the retail dollar. Meritus Mandarin Hotel is turning its lobby, ballrooms and function rooms into retail space - offering four floors of shopping. The new mall will have...
Global luxury retailer Louis Vuitton has said it is in discussions to open a store at one of the two upcoming integrated resorts in Singapore scheduled to open next year. This was revealed at a preview of its latest global store, which will open at ION Orchard on Friday. Jean-Baptiste Debains, president of Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific, said: "We're looking at it seriously. No decision has been taken now,...
Singapore has moved a notch higher to 18th spot as the most expensive retail location in the world, despite easing rental rates for super prime retail space. Property consultancy firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) said prime retail rents have declined across the globe with the global financial crisis reducing consumer confidence and weakening spending. Yet super prime rents in Singapore stood at US$408 per...
Singapore's Prime Grade A office market has seen three straight quarters of rental contractions but Jones Lang LaSalle says that pullback is easing. The property consultancy said rentals fell 11 per cent in the second quarter, compared to 28 per cent in the first quarter. Jones Lang said landlords have been taking a defensive strategy of securing occupants for their office space at the expense of...
ORCHARD Road, Singapore's most famous retail belt, is set to be the densest shopping street in the region, according to the Orchard Road Business Association. With three new mega-malls scheduled to open for business by the end of the year, about 1.8 million sq ft of new retail space will be added, bringing the total space available on Orchard Road to 8 million sq ft. And the 2.2km stretch of road is also...
ION Orchard is set to be only the second new mall to open on Orchard Road in the past decade on July 21, but it will face competition from new malls springing up along the iconic shopping belt in the next few months. The shopping centre said it is looking to stand out from the rest through the use of technology, such as a multi-media wall that can change the appearance of Orchard Road. It said it will be...
Almost all of ION Orchard's space has been leased out and it is eager to pull in the crowds with its fashion and lifestyle boutiques. The upcoming shopping mall above the Orchard MRT station is set to open on July 21. Some 94 per cent of the leasable space has been committed - 70 per cent of which is taken up by flagship stores and new or new-to-market concepts stores. Food will also be big on the plate....