Surge In Lease Of Industrial Space, Land

Source : The Straits Times, Feb 1, 2008

BUSINESSES in Singapore leased a record 214,700 sq m of ready-built industrial space and 341ha of land from industrial landlord JTC Corporation last year on the back of strong economic growth.

Figures released by JTC yesterday showed that the net allocation of ready-built space, which includes factory space and business park space, surged 68 per cent from 2006 and easily surpassed the last peak of 179,600 sq m set in 2005.

The jump, said JTC, was due mainly to the increase in the net allocation - space leased less any given up - of all its types of factory space.

Flatted factory space last year was taken up by the companies in the manufacturing and manufacturing-related sectors, which include those in the precision engineering and electronics industries.

The overall occupancy of JTC’s ready-built facilities rose 4.9 percentage points to 92.7 per cent last year.

Net allocation of prepared industrial land - which is land provided with road access and water and sewer mains at its perimeter - also hit a record high of 341ha, a 27 per cent jump from 2006.

The growth in net allocation of land was supported mainly by the chemical sector, which accounted for half of all the industrial land taken up last year.

The occupancy rate for prepared industrial land stood at 89 per cent last year.