Industrial firms’ caution persists but occupier demand holds firm: CBRE

Most tenants in the sector are still opting to renew their leases.

Whilst the industrial businesses are showing increased caution by adopting a 'wait-and-see’ attitude, occupier inquiries are still resilient, according to CBRE Research.

Tricia Song, head of research at CBRE Singapore and Southeast Asia, said that given Singapore’s location, workforce, and business environment, most tenants are still opting to renew their leases.

With expansionary demand cooling down, some landlords are responding quickly by being accommodating and offering incentives to entice tenants to relocate.

However, with more prime logistics facilities expected to enter the market over the next nine months, CBRE anticipates near-term pressure on prime logistics rental rates.

Despite this, newer and more centrally located logistics assets are expected to be more resilient compared to older properties or those with less advanced specifications.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced that Singapore’s GDP growth forecast for 2025 has been downgraded to “0.0–2.0%” from “1.0–3.0%” amidst global economic uncertainties.

According to advance estimates from MTI, Singapore’s economy contracted in Q1 2025 as GDP declined by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, a reversal from the 0.5% expansion in Q4 2024.

The manufacturing sector grew by 5.0% year-on-year in Q1 2025, moderating from the 7.4% expansion in Q4 2024.

Follow the link for more news on

CBRE

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia