Research conducted by Savills has revealed that Singapore has secured the fourth spot among Asia Pacific (Apac) cities in terms of leasing activity in the legal sector for the first half of 2024. The top three positions were taken by Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, respectively.
Ashley Swan, the executive director of commercial at Savills Singapore, stated that legal firms in Singapore have been fairly active in a stable leasing market. Some of these firms have taken on new premises with modernized ways of working in order to attract and retain top talent.
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Globally, Singapore ranked 11th, with New York taking the top spot. The city-state recorded 1.4 million square feet of space leased out to legal firms in the first half of 2024, accounting for more than half of the total 4.3 million square feet leased by the world’s 15 largest legal markets.
According to Savills, cities in the United States made up 69% of the total legal leasing activity by the largest legal markets, driven by the size of the market and a preference for lower occupancy density among legal firms in the US.
Globally, most legal practices maintained the same office space size in the first half of 2024, although Savills has observed expansions in specific regions. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, 40% of firms expanded their office space in this period, with Paris, Brussels, and London seeing significant growth.
In China, domestic legal firms are moving to larger spaces, compensating for a reduction in physical footprints by some international firms. Chinese firms are also expanding into European markets, primarily serving clients based in China and offering lower fees compared to their Western counterparts.
Savills also notes that legal firms are increasingly exploring secondary cities as part of their growth strategies, attracted by the more competitive legal talent pool in these locations. British law firms in the UK are turning to cities like Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow, while firms looking to expand in Australia are considering Brisbane and Melbourne.