Leasing volume surprisingly resilient in tough property market

Owners are settling for cheaper rents.

The residential leasing market showed signs of resilience in the first quarter in despite weak market sentiments, a report by CBRE revealed today,

Leasing volume grew 3.1% on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 13.5% on a year-on-year basis, with 15,229 units leased out in Q1.

"This rise could be attributed firstly, to a flight to quality as tenants from older developments and/or HDB flats seized the opportunity to move to newly completed condominiums at ‘bargain’ rents. The other reason could be new PRs who have to lease while they wait to fulfil the mandatory three years before they can buy resale HDB flats," stated CBRE.

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