Singapore's largest office real estate investment trust by value, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, is vending a 23-story One George Street building in in the city-state's central business district, Raffles Place, according to an informant who refuses to be named. This 41,564-sq m for lease area in the building, according to The Business Times, already has Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Diageo Singapore Pte as two of its tenants. Moreover the publication notes that the property is valued at S975 million as of Dec 31, 2014 but back in 2008 it was bought for $1.17 billion
CapitaLand Commercial Trust is managed by CapitaLand Commercial Trust Management Ltd, which is keeping its plans for One George Street under wraps except for saying in an email that "adopts an active portfolio management strategy to evaluate plans for CCT's properties from time to time," according to The Business Times.
The CapitaLand Commercial Trust's offer follows BlackRock Inc's move to put Asia Square Tower 1, another prime office tower, up for sale. The said deal, if finalized, would be the biggest transaction in Singapore.
On the side note, Urban Redevelopment Authority reportedly said that the value of office structures in Singapore dropped by 0.1 per cent in Q3 ending Sept. 30 from the quarter as shops fall by 0.3 per cent, according to The Business Times. Likewise, Rents in the central business district plunged by 4.5 per cent in the quarter that ended Sept 30 from the previous three months, but those figures are from Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. (JLL). Moreover, the same company stated that rents are expected to dive further down in 2016 as more or less 3.07 million square feet of office buildings will be finished.
As more office buildings get completed, the vacancy rate in the central business district rose by 6.1 per in the last Q3. Lastly JLL reportedly expects that vacancies will increase gradually as tenants from the financial sector evacuate.