SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Rents of office space in the central region of Singapore eased 3.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019 over the previous three months - a bigger drop compared with the 0.6 per cent fall in the third quarter of 2019, figures released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) showed on Thursday (Jan 23).

For the whole of 2019, the office rental index has slipped 3.1 per cent - contrasting with the increase of 7.4 per cent in 2018.

URA's fourth quarter data also showed prices of office space in the central region contracted by 0.5 per cent, following a 3.9 per cent drop in the previous quarter. The price index shed 0.6 per cent for the whole of 2019, contrasting with the gain of 5.7 per cent in 2018.

Islandwide, as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019, there was a total supply of about 753,000 square metres (sq m) gross floor area of office space in the pipeline, slightly more than the 738,000 sq m at the end of the previous quarter.

The amount of occupied office space increased by 30,000 sq m in net lettable area (NLA) in the fourth quarter, compared with the rise of 71,000 sq m in the previous quarter. The stock of office space expanded by 29,000 sq m in NLA in the fourth quarter, compared with the contraction of 4,000 sq m in the previous quarter.

As a result, the islandwide vacancy rate of office space dipped to 10.5 per cent as at the end of Q4 2019 from 10.6 per cent as at the end of the previous quarter.