Over 400K retail spaces flooding the market up to 2015

But bulk of the supply is coming from the suburbs.

In 1Q12 total retail space in Singapore rose by 5k sqm to 3.42m sqm, repeating the same quantum seen in 4Q11. Outside Central Region retail space formed the largest proportion of the total stock at 32.8%, followed by Fringe Area at 29.5%.

According to CBRE’s 1Q12 estimates, there is ~443k of potential retail supply flowing into the market between 2012 and 2015, forming 12.9% of current stock. The bulk of the supply is expected to come from the suburbs, while the supply in Orchard is projected to remain subdued.

However, given the confidence by developers in suburban malls and healthy residential catchment areas by the upcoming supply, the take-up is still expected to stay healthy, said OCBC Investment Reserch.

“In 2012 and 2013, we note that ~77.6k sqm and 165.4k sqm of retail space is likely to be delivered to the market respectively. As the expected supply forms only around 2.3% and 4.8% of current retail stock, we believe the net absorption is likely to be manageable,” said OCBC analyst Kevin Tan.