CBD Grade A office rents fall 1.6%

The average rent was at S$8.93 per sq ft per month in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Colliers International reported:

In 4Q 2011, overall Central Business District (CBD) Grade A office rents declined by 1.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to average at S$8.93 per sq ft per month.

For the first time since the market bottomed out in 4Q 2009, the average monthly gross rents for Grade A office space in the Raffles Place/New Downtown micro-market fell by 4.3 per cent QoQ in 4Q 2011, to S$10.31 per sq ft per month. This brought the whole year’s gain to 14.6 per cent for the micro-market, which is a sharp moderation from the 31.4 per cent growth rate recorded in 2010.

Meanwhile, rents in two other Grade A micro-markets also saw corrections in 4Q 2011, with rents in the Marina/City Hall micro-market retreating by 2.3 per cent QoQ, and the Beach Road micro-market edging down by 0.8 per cent QoQ.