PETALING JAYA: Greater Kuala Lumpur has the highest rental growth for warehouses and manufacturing facilities among South-East Asian metropolises, according to Knight Frank.
Its Asia-Pacific’s logistics highlights for the second half of 2024 revealed that Greater Kuala Lumpur came up tops in South-East Asia and third in the Asia-Pacific region, recording the highest half-yearly rental growth of 5% in the second-half of 2024 compared with the same period a year ago amid a broader regional slowdown.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Melbourne’s rental growth was the highest at 6.7%, followed by Brisbane at 6.6%.
Among South-East Asian metropolitan regions, Greater Jakarta experienced 3.8% rental growth, followed by Vietnam’s southern key economic region with 1.7% rise, Manila at 1.6%, Bangkok at 1.3% while Singapore’s rental growth was flat.
Knight Frank Malaysia senior executive director of land and industrial solutions Allan Sim said the industrial market in Greater Kuala Lumpur continued to experience stable growth, underpinned by demand from foreign manufacturers for warehouses and manufacturing facilities.
Demand for Greater Kuala Lumpur’s warehouses and factories also came from the properties’ integration of artificial intelligence and automation catering to the evolving needs of foreign businesses.
Knight Frank Malaysia managing director Keith Ooi said while the country would need to tread carefully around the heightened trade tensions, its prime location in South-East Asia, coupled with continuous investments in infrastructure, had provided a solid foundation for growth.
“As businesses look to diversify their operations amid shifting global dynamics, we anticipate sustained demand for high-quality manufacturing and logistics spaces, especially from multinational corporations seeking to optimise their supply chains,” he said.
Christine Li, the Asia-Pacific head of research at Knight Frank, said a flight-to-quality trend would remain supportive of demand for new logistics space in the region as occupiers continue to plan for supply-chain contingencies and optimise technology.
Key sources of demand come from high-growth industries such as electric vehicles and electronics, where the need for specialised supply chains will reshape the region’s trade and logistics landscape.
