ナレッジ・ハブ

Hong Kong Island Grade-A office leasing demand remained soft in December amid weak economic conditions and the traditional offseason, but the overall market was buoyed by the professional sector, particularly the finance and legal service industries, which took up space in premium buildings in the CBD area. Two Chinese Mainland financial companies, the Bank of Dongguan and FountainVest Partners, leased an entire floor in Two IFC, which was previously occupied by Nomura Holdings. Medical companies also expanded their footprint in the core districts. A medical centre leased the entire top floor of 9 Queen’s Road Central to meet the increasing demand for healthcare and wellbeing. Given the weak economic situation, some tenants gave up more office space. With the current high vacancy rate of 7.8% on Hong Kong Island, we expect some landlords to soften their approach and be more willing to negotiate.

Kowloon Leasing activity in Kowloon continued to slow down in December. New lease transactions dropped by 20% on a monthly basis. Most of the leasing activity was in Kowloon East, at monthly rents below HK$25 per sq ft. While most industries have been largely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the logistics industry has remained strong and is one of the winners. Some logistics companies have taken advantage of this golden opportunity in the downbeat market to expand and upgrade their work environment and location. A recent notable example was the relocation of logistics giant DHL. It moved out of Megabox and took up a 91,015 sq ft space in the premium Grade A office International Trade Tower in Kwun Tong, making it the largest new lease acquisition in the market so far in 2020.After reviewing its office requirements, DHL chose to reconfigure its work pattern and adopt agile work practices to achieve workplace size optimisation. Curtailed by the pandemic and economic uncertainty, tenants will continue to be cost-sensitive and seek cost-effective options in Kowloon. Given the approach of the traditional festive season and the continuing unstable COVID-19 situation, we expect leasing demand to remain soft and the current low-level leasing volume to last until at least Lunar New Year.

In this January 2021 issue, we take a look at the latest updates on the local commercial real estate market as well as share an outlook for the sector in 2021.

• While the gradual return to office is expected this year, the office segment may not immediately return to its pre-pandemic vibrancy as the uncertain global business environment may continue to affect expansion decisions of businesses over the short to medium term. The office segment, however, is seen to benefit from the anticipated growth of the IT-BPM sector with the United States’ less protectionist policies under its new administration.
  
• The new COVID-19 variant has caused renewed anxiety and further stalls the resumption of international travel. It is also seen to discourage domestic travel as the country extends the more stringent community quarantine qualification in major urban areas and tourist destinations, thus, further blurring the tourism industry outlook.

Q4 2020 was a crucial quarter as it marked a recovery momentum with leasing indicators trending favourably compared to the previous couple of quarters. In a time of change with COVID upending the workplace playbook, the leasing trends and occupier strategies are undergoing a rapid shift and will have a bearing on market activity. Even as the COVID scenario was evolving and occupiers continued with evaluating their real estate portfolios and charting their space requirements, almost all the cities saw heightened levels of market activity with expansion driven demand making a comeback of sorts as well.  Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata have witnessed higher fresh leasing activity for expansion and consolidation during the last quarter of the year. This augurs well for the leasing momentum in 2021, which is likely to get broad-based across cities with introduction of a vaccine and a gradual return to the workplace providing the much-needed push to market activity. 

In this report, we analyse the Indian office markets’ performance in Q4 as well as during the full year of 2020.  

Although office leasing activity was generally more muted in Q4 compared to other quarters in the year, it was broadly similar to Q4/2019 levels.

• Demand for office space largely emanated from tenants looking for replacement space because of the need to move out of older buildings to be redeveloped, as well as tenants with office leases due for renewal.

• Owing to the uncertainties arising from the pandemic, tenants are continuing to adopt a wait-and-see approach and looking for clarity on trends to emerge on future workplace practices before deciding on future office space requirements.

• In Q4, the office market saw relatively significant leasing deals from technology companies. These companies are expected to continue expanding their presence in Singapore, which they deem as an attractive base due to its political stability, strategic position and strong economic fundamentals.

ストラタオフィス市場の見通し

•  2021年、シンガポールの分譲オフィス市場は、より大規模なオフィスセクターと同様に、引き続き厳しい状況が続くと予想されます。これは、パンデミック後の時代において、リモートワークのプロトコルが進化する中で、企業がスペースの占有方法を厳しく見直そうとしていることが背景にあります。そのため、取引量と価格は少なくとも年初6ヶ月間は低迷すると予想されます。.
• しかしながら、オフィス利用者がスペース要件を合理化し適正化するにつれて、小規模企業などのテナントは、テナントスペースに代わる現実的な選択肢として、オーナーが入居するストラタオフィスに目を向けるようになる可能性があります。そのため、ストラタオフィス、特に都心部に位置するストラタオフィスの需要は、2021年後半に改善する可能性があります。.

ストラタ小売市場の見通し

• 今後、ワクチンの配布が進んでいるにもかかわらず、他国での感染再拡大により、世界経済の見通しは依然として不透明です。また、ワクチンの配布が成功したとしても、シンガポールの分譲住宅の価格は低迷すると予想されます。観光客の減少と安全な距離確保措置の継続により、売却価格の下落が予想されます。.
• このような分譲住宅の需要は、自ら事業を営むことを希望し、分譲住宅型商業施設が一般的に立地する場所に店舗を構えることを好む経営者から生まれると予想されます。多くの場合、同じ場所にある一流ショッピングモールで店舗スペースを借りるよりもコストが低いことが、最大の誘因となります。.
• したがって、小売市場がより体験的な場所づくり戦略へと傾倒し、一部のサービスをデジタル プラットフォームに移行するにつれて、階層型小売店のオーナーも同様の方法を採用して、絶えず変化する市場で生き残る必要が高まっています。.