Prime Grade office rents in Raffles Place and Marina Bay up 1.2% QoQ in Q2

The rents averaged $10.96 per square foot per metres.

The prime grade office rents in the Raffles Place / Marina Bay precinct grew 5.8% year-on-year in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, property firm, Knight Frank, said.

Knight Frank brought rental growth to 2.5% in the first half of 2023 amidst escalating geopolitical tensions, inflationary pressures, and prevailing economic gloom. 

With office supply remaining tight, prime office rents are expected to remain firm.

Occupancy levels in the Raffles Place / Marina Bay precinct, and in the overall CBD remained healthy at 95.8% and 94.4%, respectively in Q2 2023, marginally higher than the corresponding 95.4% and 94.1% in the first quarter. 

Even though there are business contractions and employee layoffs globally, Knight Frank said many global corporates continued to relocate functions to Singapore alongside start-ups.

Data from the business registry statistics from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, the number of entities logged in Singapore grew from 570,992 to 579,221 in the first five months of 2023. 

Although a poll conducted by Knight Frank and Cresa cited that half the global respondents that had around 50,000 employees, had plans to reduce global office footprint by 10% to 20% in the next few years, net increases are still being observed in Singapore. 

One instance is Morgan Stanley, which was reported to be moving to IOI Central Boulevard Towers, with business expansion key to its operational strategy. 

Morgan Stanley is expected to occupy about 100,000 sf of space when the construction finishes in late 2023.