Singapore office rents set for surge in late 2014
Industry leader says rise will be powered by shortage of prime office space
Singapore's office rents are expected to surge at the end of 2014 after extending a "modest" rebound that started in the second quarter, according to the biggest office trust in Asia outside Japan.
Office rents in the business district rose in the past three months, the first gain since the fourth quarter of 2011, according to brokerage Colliers International. Singapore's economy rose an annualised 15.2 per cent last quarter from the previous three months, the fastest pace in more than two years, as services strengthened and manufacturing rebounded.
"I don't think we'll go back to the peak we experienced before the crisis, not so soon, anyway," said Leong, who predicted a rebound in Singapore's office rents in January. "Given that the supply is going to be very limited in the next three years, it will be quite sharp at the tail end. Towards the end of 2014 will be a very strong year."
Singapore, a country smaller than New York City, is drawing more companies as rents dropped in the past year. The city's office costs slumped 16 per cent in the past year, the most globally, according to a CBRE Group survey last month, making it cheaper than Asian locations including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Mumbai.
Leong estimates that Singapore's annual supply of new office space will be lower than one million square feet in the next three years, down from the average 1.3 million over the past 20 years.
"As we come to a point in time with very limited supply, we'll see a sharper growth in rents," she said.
An analyst at BNP Paribas Securities Singapore, Chong Kang Ho, forecast positive reversions in 2014 and 2015 if market rents trend upwards.
CapitaCommercial Trust is seeking acquisitions in Singapore and has "a lot of financial flexibility," Leong said. The trust's loans are 28.9 per cent of assets, which gives it a S$1.2 billion (HK$7.3 billion) "debt headroom" to fund purchases if it increases its borrowings to 40 per cent, she said.
CapitaCommercial Trust is partly owned by CapitaLand, Southeast Asia's biggest developer. It is the biggest office REIT in Asia by market value after Nippon Building Fund and Japan Real Estate Investment Corporation in Japan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CapitaCommercial Trust has 76 per cent of its borrowings on fixed interest rates, which helps it hedge against any increase in borrowing costs, the trust said. It may seek to raise that, depending on its outlook for lending rates, Leong said.
"We are very encouraged by the recovery of the office market," Leong said. "Right now, what we're focused on doing is creating organic growth from leasing out vacant space and taking advantage of the recovery of the market."
