Office Rental Singapore Soars
The current office rental Singapore office had increased tremendously. Office rental space in Singapore is currently facing a shortage of supply. This is due to several redevelopments or retrofitting of commercial office building. Many buildings in the prime district are redeveloping for residential usage. The high influx of oversea companies, especially financial institute, moving into Singapore had also contributed to the office rental in Singapore to soar.
For company looking into expanding their office space in Singapore, finding a suitable space is becoming a challenging task. Some companies had opted to move towards High tech building or business park zone. Due to the tight supply of office rental in Singapore, some companies had also decentralized their operation, moving backend operation out of the central business district. There are still ample office spaces in the industrial or business park zone.
For some companies, the current office rental had double and even triple when come to renewal of lease. The days of tenants paying low rental and enjoying large space are over. Tenants that do not choose to renew the lease will also need to lower their expectation of the new office that they will be moving to and at the same time paying higher office rental.
Shophouse office had become a new popular choice for many companies. Shophouse office rental Singapore is typically commanding half of the traditional office space. With careful planning and interior design, shophouse office can be renovated to be an office with taste. The popular shophouse offices in Singapore are located at Amoy Street, Telok Ayer Street and Tras Street. With the high office rental in Singapore, tenants need to have better creativity usage of office space. Open concept office which optimized office space is employed by most tenants.
For some companies, moving out of the Central Business District to the fridge of business zone becomes the number one choice. Others are moving to the business park paying lower rental without compromising the corporate image. However, they do need to compromise on the location as most business park do not residue in the central of Singapore. Most of the business park and high tech building are located either at the east or west side of the island. With this office rental trend, the rental of suburban and business had also increased.
The current office rental in Singapore had already surpassed the 1996/1997 office peak. However, there is still room for upwards movement. It is forecast that it will stabilize in 2 years times when new office buildings are ready. This upward trend is due to the shortage of supply and the continuous strong demand. The demand will continue to increase as Singapore economic foundation and strong infrastructure for doing business are attracting many foreign companies to invest in Singapore.
Although the office rental in Singapore had push up the business cost, there are many companies continue to expand in Singapore. This does not affect the competitive of Singapore in the Asia region.