Singapore still multi-national firms’ top pick for regional headquarters: report

It dominated Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Singapore remains the hottest spot for multi-national companies (MNCs) to set up their regional headquarters (RHQs), though competition is expected to intensify, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

The commercial real estate company found that among the six cities studied—Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo and Beijing—Singapore and Hong Kong are first and second in rankings respectively. Both are well established RHQ locations, and have longstanding economic and regulatory environments designed to lure in companies.

However, Singapore leaves Hong Kong in the dust in several aspects—Hong Kong has a higher cost of living, as well as increasing competition from Tier 1 Chinese cities. Further, on a square metre basis, Hong Kong is almost twice as expensive as Shanghai and Singapore. Hong Kong also has the worst space efficiency compared to Singapore and Shanghai (which ranked third among the six).

In contrast, Singapore is the most space efficient market of the top three. And as a result of rental decline in 2015, it is cheapest on both a per square metre and per workstation basis.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia