Business park occupancy rate in Singapore jumped to 82.8%

68 leases were inked in 1Q.

According to Savills, business park space saw brisk take-up with a net absorption of 236,806 sq ft, resulting in occupancy rates strengthening from 80.9% in Q4/2012 to 82.8% in Q1/2013. A total of 68 leases were inked in Q1, up from 65 in the preceding quarter and 52 in Q1 last year.

Here's more from Savills:

Although the bulk of leasing activity in Q1 took place at International Business Park and Science Park, they were mostly smaller deals involving pocket spaces of less than 10,000 sq ft. The larger deals were concluded in Fusionopolis involving multinational companies relocating or consolidating from older premises to an up-andcoming address in one-north.

Monthly rents of business park space were up 2.6% from S$3.90 per sq ft in Q4/2012 to S$4.00 per sq ft in Q1/2013, driven by new projects such as Nexus @ onenorth, which commanded more than S$5.00 per sq ft per month.