Although still the cheapest in Asia, the price of prime office rental growth in Bangkok during the first three months of 2015 lead the region, followed by Kuala Lumpur and outpacing more established cities including Singapore, Sydney and Hong Kong.
The price for rental in a prime Bangkok central business district office stood at THB801.5 per sqm per month, according to the Knight Frank Asia-Pacific Prime Office Rental Index for Q1 2015 – a rise of 3.8 percent in the first three months of the year and 7.3 percent year-on-year.
The index increased 1.3 percent overall during the first quarter of 2015, and now sits 5.3 percent above its pre-crisis (Q2 2008) peak.
Rental growth happened in 13 of the 19 markets tracked, with three recording no rental movement and three recording rental declines
The Northeast Asian powerhouses – Seoul and Tokyo – showed similar headline growth figures for Q1 2015, but have significantly differing market characteristics and drivers
Although vacancy is tightening in many markets, the Asia-Pacific regional vacancy rate increased on the back of rising inventories in Greater China’s tier-one cities
During the next 12 months, Knight Frank expects rents in 14 cities out of the 19 tracked to either remain steady or increase, which is in line with our previous forecasts.
Andrew Batt, International Group Editor of PropertyGuru Group, wrote this story. To contact him about this or other stories email andrew@propertyguru.com.sg
