Demand for high-end units eases, agents say rents likely to fall WITH banks around the world falling like nine pins, it’s not surprising that demand for top-quality Singapore office space is easing off. The estate agents are agreed: Rents have already peaked, and occupancy levels are falling - with rents likely to follow. According to a report by property firm CB Richard Ellis yesterday, Grade A rents...
Office / Retail Space
A 38-storey office tower will be built beside OUB Centre, adding some 350,000 square feet of Grade A office space to Singapore's business district. Despite growing expectations of falling demand for office space and a slump in office rents, the project's marketing agent is already talking to interested parties. The S$540 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2011 and is already seeing healthy...
DESPITE the current United States credit crunch, the third-largest Swiss private banking group EFG Bank, is expanding here and will be taking up seven floors out of the new nine-storey "boutique" office block opposite the Parliament House. EFG will be the first private bank to occupy the bulk of a building, and this gives it naming rights for the 78,000-square-foot freehold building. Said EFG Bank's...
The collapse of Lehman Brothers is set to hit Asian office rental rates. Banks are traditionally the largest users of Grade A office space in the region, and they are likely to cut back on expansion plans and even consolidate current operations in the year ahead. In the region's major office markets, Tokyo's prime rentals are leading the decline. Others are expected to follow suit over the next 12 to 18...
THE collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings may contribute to an easing of demand for prime office space in Singapore, where commercial rents are already peaking amid slowing economic growth, property consultants said. The market turmoil that this week also forced the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America and a bailout of American International Group will probably further slow expansion by international...
The Mandarin Gallery at The Meritus Mandarin Hotel is getting a S$200 million makeover. The upscale shopping mall will not be ready for another year, but people passing by along Orchard Road can get a preview of the shops and frontage, thanks to a specially-designed 3D-effect hoarding. This is the first such hoarding in Singapore. It was designed and made in Paris before being flown here. It stretches...
Australian companies BHP Billiton and Macquarie Group have been confirmed as the newest tenants of Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC). Mining firm BHP Billiton and banking giant Macquarie will take up 142,000 and 74,000 sq feet of space respectively in Tower 1 of the office building at downtown Marina, said Raffles Quay Asset Management, which manages MBFC, in a statement. Both firms will take 10-year...
The Marina Bay Financial Centre has leased out over 65 per cent of its space, even though it is two years away from completion. Two of Australia's biggest companies are the latest to lease space at the centre. The Macquarie Group and BHP Billiton are taking up more than 216,000 sq ft of office space. They will be there for 10 years, with options to renew and expand. Software development firm, Murex...
Singapore has recorded robust demand in the office sector for the first six months of this year. According to a mid-year review by Colliers International, the Singapore office sector has seen high rents and low vacancy rates, with office occupancy costs the third highest in the Asia-Pacific region. On average, annual Grade A office rents in Singapore fetched US$125.06 per square foot - behind Hong Kong...
Never mind that 100,000 spectators are expected to descend on the Marina Bay area. Even all-out efforts by the management of shopping centres to tap the crowds have yet to dispel the lingering doubts of retailers that their cash tills will be ringing during Singapore’s inaugural Formula 1 race at the end of the month. Some retail tenants still think that Singapore’s tourism event of the year on Sept...