Chart of the Day: Is Singapore’s industrial property sector up for a massive surplus?

It has grown by almost half since 2005.

Singapore’s rapid expansion has towed the city-state’s industrial property footprint rapidly upward, as it increased by 45% over 2005-2015.

According to a report by DBS, as of the first quarter of 2016, Singapore has close to 44m sqm of industrial space, concentrated mainly in the West region where companies are mainly in the pharma, engineering, and other heavy industries business.

“Industries there are also supported by the nearby access to the port. Industrial space in the North, North East and Central part of Singapore are mainly cater to “light industries” which are businesses that are generally less noise disruption given the proximity to residential estates,” the report said.

“These businesses are for typically in the Electronics, Data-Centres, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Research and Development (R&D). The Eastern region, given the proximity to the airport, typically sees businesses in Aviation-related industries, Logistics, Data-Centres, R&D,” the report added.