Island-wide retail vacancy drops to lowest point in 7 years 

In Q4, the vacancy rate was 7.1%. 

Island-wide retail vacancy fell to 7.1% in Q422 from 7.8% in Q322, Savills reported.

According to Savills, the Q4  figure is the lowest vacancy rate in seven years since Q315 when the rate was 7.0%.

The real estate agency attributed the increase to a continual rise in retail sales, high foot traffic in shopping malls, and improved visitor arrivals 

Across submarkets, vacancy rates fell 4.0% for the Central Region and  8.7% for the Outside Central Region. 

The Central Region's Downtown Core and Orchard Planning Areas' vacancy rates also eased as visitors and travellers gushed into the country.

“However, the declining vacancy rates may indicate that landlords are prioritising improving mall occupancy rather than having high rental expectations,” the report said.