Chart of the Day: Retail property vacancy rate widened to 8% in Q1

The take-up of some of the new retail projects was slow during the quarter.

This chart from Savills shows that the island-wide vacancy rate amongst retail properties rose to 8% in Q1 from 7.4% in Q4 2019, despite a decline in retail supply.

This was largely due to slow take-up of some of the new retail projects such as Change Alley Mall and Le Quest, which put added pressure on occupancy levels in Downtown Core Planning Area and Suburban Area respectively.

The report noted that since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in Singapore, many prospective tenants who planned to set up or expand prior to the outbreak have put their plans on hold. Another deterring factor was the imposition of travel restrictions which banned several overseas retailers from travelling to Singapore for final discussions regarding their tenancy agreements.