Prime office rents rise in 3Q2025 amid limited supply and flight-to-quality moves
Calvin Yeo, head of occupant strategy and solutions at Knight Frank Singapore, notices that “selective upgrades to quality space have created a two-tier market where more recent, well-connected structures prosper and older supply encounters expanding vacancy pressure.”
” Singapore’s office industry has actually been standing up well, partially maintained by stronger-than-anticipated economic principles and an extra conducive interest rate setting,” says Dr Chua Yang Liang, head of study and consultancy for JLL Southeast Asia.
The greater growth was mostly attributed to the addition of IOI Central Blvd Towers to the basket of real properties monitored by JLL. Removing IOI Central Blvd Towers, CBD office rents increased by less than 1%, on par with the last six quarters.
Given the limited office stock in the next couple of years, he anticipates high quality buildings to continue to be nearly totally inhabited as even more companies make flight-to-quality moves from older structures. On the other hand, older and poorly connected structures will certainly face increasing stress to be redeveloped or modernised.
The limited available supply, coupled with a careful organization atmosphere, brought about leasing activity being mainly driven by lease renewals, states Knight Frank. Nonetheless, select occupants, especially those with ending leases, are choosing to relocate to more recent, better-quality structures in tandem with right-sizing or measured growth. Examples of these consist of tech company Zoom Communications relocating from Asia Square Tower to IOI Central Blvd Towers, whilst quantitative trading company Jane Street is planning to increase its area in the latter.
Leas for prime office in Singapore proceeded expanding in 3Q2025, based on study from real estate consultancies. In its most recent quarterly workplace market record, JLL’s research reveals that Grade A workplace leas in the CBD increased 1.3% q-o-q to $11.83 psf each month (psf pm) previous quarter, the biggest quarterly development in six quarters.
Knight Frank’s report found that tenancy status for office spaces in the Raffles Place and Marina Bay district continued to be unchanged at 94.7%, whilst general CBD tenancy increased from 93.7% in 2Q2025 to 94.2% in 3Q2025.
Looking forward, JLL anticipates CBD Grade A office rental growth to remain reasonable for the remainder of 2025, with full-year development projected to reach approximately 3%. Entering into 2026, JLL forecasts office rental growth to pick up speed, supported by a tightening up supply pipeline. “As vacancy rates are predicted to tighten in between 2025-2027, whole-floor and multi-floor opportunities will certainly turn into progressively restricted, possibly driving rental prices beyond some lessees’ budget parameters,” remarks Andrew Tangye, head of office leasing and advisory for JLL Singapore.
Granted the uncertain global atmosphere, Knight Frank expects sentiment to remain careful amongst office occupants over the following six to 12 months. “Thus, prime rental development for the last quarter of 2025 is anticipated to remain relatively level with some limited development, with even more of the very same entering into the initial half of 2026,” the record states.
In a different record, study by Knight Frank suggests prime grade office rents in the Raffles Place and Marina Bay places expanded 0.3% q-o-q to reach an average of $11.41 psf pm in 3Q2025. This is similar to the 0.2% q-o-q development recorded in 2Q2025, and brings complete rental growth for the initial 9 months of the year to 0.4%.
