What property experts have to say on the JTC industrial rental index

Occupancy rate declined 89.4% in the past quarter.

The JTC recently released data on the rental index of industrial properties which include rents and occupancy rates.

Some property experts weigh in and share comments on the latest data released by JTC.

CBRE

The JTC All Industrial Rental Index increased by 2.1% q-o-q in Q4 2022, the ninth consecutive quarter of rental increase, bringing the full year rental increase to 6.9%. 

Among the various market segments, rents for multi-user factories grew the fastest by 2.6% q-o-q in Q4 2022, which could have been due to higher rents achieved at recently completed projects. 

Rents for warehouses continued to increase by 2.2% q-o-q in Q4 2022, following the 1.9% q-o-q growth in Q3 2022. 

Prices of industrial space have also continued to rise, as the price index of all industrial space rose by 1.7% q-o-q and 7.5% y-o-y. 

Whilst there is approximately 18.9 mil sq. ft. of new industrial space to be completed in 2023, about half are single-user factories and only 28% are warehouses, CBRE Research believes that Singapore remains well positioned as choice spaces for occupiers remain limited.

Knight Frank

According to Leonard Tay, Head of Research at Knight Frank Singapore, the manufacturing sector in Singapore ended the year 2022 in positive territory, growing 2.6% based on advanced estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry. 

This supported industrial real estate prices and rents. In Q4 2022, the all-industrial price index increased by 1.7% q-o-q with a full year increment of 7.5% y-o-y, while the rental index inched upward by 2.1% q-o-q in Q4 2022 to chalk up 6.9% for the whole of 2022. 

Even though the electronics sector is going through a rough patch, investments continue to flow into Singapore with the belief that growth will return and be sustainable in the long-run. 

Despite the upcoming industrial supply in a time of decreasing exports and decaying manufacturing sentiment, Singapore will continue to attract fixed asset investment (FAI) into the manufacturing sector as global manufacturers look for locations with political stability, an educated workforce and modern infrastructure as part of flight-to-stability strategies.

As such, industrial prices and rents will remain stable with a marginal growth of 1% to 3% for the whole of 2023.

In the logistics segment, where supply is tight, rents for quality warehouse space might increase by a higher 3% to 5% in the year ahead.