Office space prices inched up by 1.9% in Q2

Rental growth was slightly softer at 1.6%.

Prices of office space grew by 1.9% in the second quarter of 2018, higher compared to the 1.3% increase in Q1, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) revealed.

Meanwhile, rentals of office space inched up by 1.6%, softer compared to the 2.6% increase in Q1.

The total gross floor area (GFA) of office space in the pipeline shrank by 8.34% from 791,000 sqm in Q1 to 725,000 sqm in Q2.

The amount of occupied office space increased by 74,000 sqm in Q2 compared with the increase of 14,000 sqm (nett) in the previous quarter. The stock of office space grew by 60,000 sqm, compared with the increase of 11,000 sqm in Q1.

As a result, the island-wide vacancy rate of office space dropped to 12.2% from 12.5% at the end of the previous quarter.