Office space take-up rates continue to strengthen

Office space take-up rates continue to strengthen in Singapore and across Asia Pacific.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, this is due to improved economic climate and stronger business confidence.

Jones Lang LaSalle said that in the second quarter of this year, take-up of office space across Asia Pacific’s Tier I cities increased by 13 per cent on-quarter to 1.3 million square metres.

It added that in the major financial centres, contractions in space came to an end, with the exception of Tokyo.

And to tap on the growth of the commercial property sector, the founders of property website PropertyGuru have created a new portal.

CommercialGuru.com.sg is believed to be Singapore’s first dedicated portal for commercial properties.

Commercial properties will be increasingly sought after. Reports have said Singapore has about 44 million square feet or about 32 UOB buildings of vacant commercial space today.

Such available space can be listed on a portal like CommercialGuru.

Business owners can key in criteria like the floor space required and view the various properties.

Adam Tan, corporate communications manager, PropNex, said: “They can compare and contrast on their own without having to go to an agent or agency, basically cut short the time spent looking for property.

“Right now, we have agents marketing commercial properties. The problem is that are these business owners finding these agents and the properties that are being marketed? The answer is they may not be. What CommercialGuru does is provide a bridge between the business owner who is looking for a property and the agent who has a property that is being marketed.”

Dennis Wee, chairman, Dennis Wee Realty, said: “When all my agents sell (properties) faster, our company can grow faster. My plan is to set up a commercial department. So far, we have three persons, we will build (it) up more because commercial is the way to go also.”

CommercialGuru currently lists over 7,000 available vacant properties in Singapore and the region. And it will likely double over the next year.

Steve Melhuish, CEO and co-founder, CommercialGuru, said: “For the users, there is an increasing focus, we believe, on commercial property as a result of not just the macro economic demand, but also in terms of investors shifting from residential, as property prices are starting to peak in the residential market, moving more to commercial as well.

“Already, we have a number of Malaysian developers who are promoting their properties in our overseas section on CommercialGuru. And going forward, the scenario, we believe, will expand. The likely markets for growing some of these listings will be Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and probably the US and the UK as well.”

With better economic conditions, more companies will need extra spaces like retail areas to expand their business. Using the new portal, business owners will also become more informed about the availability of such spaces.

Property agencies said their agents will also stand to benefit because they will save money from advertising commercial vacancies.

Source : Channel NewsAsia – 18 Aug 2010

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