Singapore records highest number of industrial tenancies in a year

Industrial leases grew 7.5% to 2,451 in Q3.

Singapore industrial property rents and prices grew at a faster q-o-q pace in 3Q22 as they entered their eighth consecutive quarter of expansion.

According to data from JTC, Singapore industrial rents grew 2.1% q-o-q and 4.9% y-o-y.

A report from JLL says the multiple-user factory segment outperformed the other industrial space types to record the fastest q-o-q rent growth in 3Q22, underpinned by the 7.5% q-o-q growth in the number of tenancies to 2,451 in 3Q22, its highest in four quarters. This is likely fueled by the continued manufacturing sector growth. 

Here’s more from JLL:

According to advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on 14 October 2022, Singapore’s manufacturing sector which expanded for the ninth straight quarter in 3Q22, albeit slowing to 1.5% q-o-q, was generally propped up by output expansions in the transport engineering, general manufacturing and precision engineering clusters.

Meanwhile, availability of warehouse space remained the tightest among all the industrial property types, with the vacancy rate staying below the sub-10% level for the sixth straight quarter. Healthy demand amid tight supply, especially for quality logistics/warehouse space, drove rents up another 1.9% q-o-q in 3Q22.

The steadily rising rents, coupled with institutional investors looking to rebalance their property portfolio with higher yielding assets such as logistics/warehouse properties in search of higher returns in the rising interest rate environment supported another quarter of industrial price growth, amounting to 2.0% q-o-q in 3Q22.

As both industrial property rents and prices have outperformed expectations in the first nine months of 2022, clocking 4.7% and 5.7% growth respectively, we are upgrading our full-year forecasts to 6-7% for rents, and 7-8% for prices.

Growth will likely ease to within 5% in 2023 for both rents and prices in light that the geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic headwinds, surging interest rates and inflation could moderate business confidence and risk appetite. Additionally, the elevated supply pipeline from 4Q22 to 2023 amounting to nearly 2 million sqm, up significantly from the 826,000 sqm of net space addition in the first nine months of 2022, could temper near-term recovery.