Retail space prices swing to a 0.2% growth in Q4

Compared to a 0.6% decline in the past quarter.

Prices of retail spaces in Singapore saw a 0.2% increase in 4Q16, following a 0.6% decrease in the past quarter.

According to the latest figures from Urban Redevelopment Authority, rentals of retail space decreased by 1.2% in 4Q16, compared with the decrease of 1.5% in the previous quarter.

For the whole of 2016, prices and rentals of retail space fell by 5.4% and 8.3% respectively, compared with the 0.8% and 4.1% decline in 2015.

Meanwhile, as at the end of the said quarter, there was a total supply of 595,000 sqm GFA of retail space from projects in the pipeline, compared with the 652,000 sqm GFA of retail space in the pipeline in the previous quarter.

URA also noted that the amount of occupied retail space increased by 66,000 sqm, compared with the decrease of 26,000 sqm, in the previous quarter. The stock of retail space increased by 10,000 sqm in 4Q16, compared to the increase of 17,000 sqm in 3Q16.

This resulted in the 7.5% drop in the island-wide vacancy rate, in contrast to 8.4% in the previous quarter.