Napic: KL office rentals stable over past 3 years

KUALA LUMPUR: Office rentals in Kuala Lumpur had remained stable over the past three years until end-2011, easing concerns over a possible property bubble.

This is based on data from the Purpose Built Office Rent Index Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (PBO-RI WPKL) produced by National Property Information Centre (Napic), a unit under the Valuation and Property Services Department of the Finance Ministry.

The first edition of the index will be launched today by Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein.

Napic director Dr Zailan Mohd said the index, the first of its kind in Asean, would be used as a tool to gauge the health of the country's economy.

It was also created to attract multinational companies to set up headquarters here, she said.

PBO-RI was designed to provide an overview of the office rental index for Kuala Lumpur, with special focus on investment grade building.

In line with the Financial Soundness Indicators by the International Monetary Fund, the index can be used as a benchmark for the financial stability of the country.

At a pre-launch briefing held yesterday, Zailan said looking at the overall data, the capital's purpose built office market was healthy. A purpose built office in this context is one with at least 75 per cent of space for office.

Overall, office rentals within the Kuala Lumpur-Golden Triangle zone are higher than average.

In the fourth quarter, the rent per sq ft was RM4.66 compared with the median rent of RM4.50 per sq ft.

The highest rent per sq ft in this zone is at RM11.50.

Similarly, rentals in the suburban areas including Bangsar, Bukit Kiara and Damansara Heights are termed "extreme high rent" as per-sq-ft rent in the final quarter of 2011 was RM3.51.

By Business Times