The leasing market was buoyant in the third quarter of the year, according to a recent report by Savills Research, Singapore.
Leasing volume of private homes reached a new record of 17,775 cases, registering a quarterly increase of 15.2 percent or an 11 percent growth year-on-year, citing Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) data.
From January to September 2014, there were a total of 46,632 leases inked, 8.7 percent higher than last year’s 42,899 leases recorded over the same period.
However, rents throughout all regions continued to soften by 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter, after a dip of 0.6 percent in the second quarter. Core Central Region (CCR) saw the widest decline by 1.9 percent, followed by the Rest of Central Region (RCR) which weakened slightly by 0.2 percent while rents in the Outside Central Region (OCR) saw no change.
Rents of non-landed residential properties reduced by 1.1 percent in Q3 compared to the 0.2 percent drop in the previous quarter.
The average monthly rent of high-end condominiums continued to fall, with average monthly rents down by 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter to $4.66 per sq ft.
The report also noted the softening rent is most evident in the CCR especially among luxurious residential units, and a possible reason is the shrinking housing budgets in a market where there is an ever increasing supply of new homes.
Alan Cheong, Head of Research at Savills said, “With leasing numbers still rising strongly, landlord sentiment will be supported and although rents may soften somewhat, we are still not too concerned with the onslaught of supply.”
Photo by Muneerah Bee
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
