The area is a key part of downtown Singapore and boasts some of the most iconic office buildings in South East Asia but rival districts like Marina Bay are proving a major draw for high profile tenants.
In 2011, Standard Chartered and Julius Baer were among the banking groups that relocated from Raffles Place to other office space centres around Singapore, while the insurance giant Lloyd’s of London also left its Raffles Place offices.
However, according to figures from office experts at DTZ Holdings, despite the departure of important occupiers and large-scale local employers, the typical rental price per square foot in Raffles Place remained unchanged in the final quarter of the year.
Looking at the Singapore office market, 2011 was marked by the fulfilment of deals on offices struck during previous years between multinational companies and local landlords. However, many businesses were unwilling to commit to expansion arrangements in light of global economic turbulence or renewed their existing rental deal to avoid fit-out costs.
“Although the market has turned quieter, we observed that some landlords in buildings with higher occupancies are holding onto the current rental rates while those with lower take-up rates are aggressively offering more attractive leasing incentives,” said DTZ’s executive director for business space Cheng Siow Ying.
She added, “In general, most landlords have become more flexible in packaging competitive lease terms to meet the occupiers’ requirements.”
Estimates are that roughly 1.1 million sq ft of office space will enter the Singaporean market in 2012, less than half of that made newly available in 2011. Among the most high-profile building completions will be the Financial Centre Tower 3 in Marina Bay, where most of the office space available is already officially accounted for.
Editor’s notes: In 2023, Singapore had a supply of 45.85 million square feet of office space or 4.26 million square metres.
Premium office space rental rates increased by approximately 1 per cent every quarter, as they had during 2022, and in 2023, they stood at S$10.83 per square foot per month.
In Q3 2024, prime grade office rents in the Raffles Place precinct increased 0.7% q-o-q in Q4 2023 to an average of
S$11.13 per square foot per month, and occupancy levels were at 95.6 per cent.
As of August 2024, Raffles Place office occupiers included a range of national and international businesses, including flexible workspace provider Regus, who offered flexible office space and workspace solutions at One Raffles Place.
Regus offers private offices in a range of sizes. All-inclusive pricing covers utilities, cleaning, reception services, and other items, starting from S$2,200 per desk per month.
The Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) has also proven to be a popular location in which global institutions such as Clifford Chance, DBS Bank and Rio Tinto have chosen to rent office space.