Manulife Tower asking rent
psf/month, gross
Raffles Place / Marina Bay prime
psf/month, Q1 2026 benchmark
Core CBD Grade A average
psf/month, Q2 2026
Why New Tenants Are Looking at Manulife Tower
If you’re planning your company’s first move into the Raffles Place CBD — or relocating out of a smaller, less prestigious address — Manulife Tower deserves a spot on your shortlist. It’s a 28-storey Grade A tower sitting directly above Telok Ayer MRT, freshly refurbished in 2025, and currently asking S$9.70–$11.00 psf/month, a clear discount to the S$12.50 psf Core CBD Grade A benchmark. For a growing business that wants a prestigious CBD address without prime-tier pricing, that gap is the whole story.
Building Snapshot : Manulife Tower Office Space for Rent
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Address | 8 Cross Street, Singapore 048424 |
| Grade / Storeys | Grade A, 28 storeys, 288 car park lots |
| Floor plates | ~15,000 sq ft, column-free, 150mm raised flooring |
| Refurbished | 2025 |
| Certification | BCA Green Mark GoldPlus |
| MRT access | Directly above Telok Ayer (DT18); ~5 min to Raffles Place |
| Available units | ~1,300 sq ft to full floors (~15,000 sq ft) |
| Notable occupiers | The Economist Group, Telstra, Amorepacific, Amicorp, Tripadvisor |
How Manulife Tower Prices Against the Market
The chart below shows exactly where Manulife Tower’s asking rent sits against the key benchmarks new tenants use to negotiate: the Raffles Place / Marina Bay prime average, and the wider Core CBD Grade A figure.
Manulife Tower asking rent vs. Raffles Place / Core CBD Grade A benchmarks, S$ psf/month
At its headline ask of $11.00 psf, Manulife undercuts the Raffles Place prime average by around 5%, and the city-wide Core CBD Grade A figure by roughly 12%. On the lower end of its asking range, that discount widens past 20%. For comparison, a similar fitted unit at neighbouring Samsung Hub asks around $10.50 psf, while newer Marina Bay-area Grade A towers are asking up to $14.00 psf — Manulife sits comfortably in the value tier of a genuinely prime location.
The CBD Office Market Is Moving — Here’s Why Timing Matters for a New Lease
Singapore’s Core CBD Grade A office rents have now risen for six straight quarters, and vacancy has compressed to a record low. If you’re planning a first CBD lease, this is the backdrop you’re negotiating against.
Core CBD Grade A office rents, Q2 2024 – Q2 2026, by consultancy
Core CBD Grade A vacancy has compressed from 7.8% to a record-low 3.3%
With vacancy this tight and no meaningful new Grade A supply arriving in the core CBD until 2028 (Shaw Tower and Newport Tower are the only nearby completions through 2027), the trend points toward continued upward pressure on rents. Every major consultancy — CBRE, JLL, Cushman & Wakefield, Knight Frank and Colliers — is forecasting further growth through the rest of 2026. Locking in a value address like Manulife Tower now, while it still prices at a discount to the benchmark, is the practical takeaway for any business planning its next office move.
Manulife Tower sits at 8 Cross Street, a one-minute covered walk from Telok Ayer MRT in the Raffles Place / Downtown Core micro-market. It is a 28-storey Grade A tower completed in 1999, singly-owned by Manulife, with a ~15,000 sq ft typical floor plate, 288 car park lots (1:1,800), BCA Green Mark Gold, and just underwent a 2025 refurbishment. Notable current occupiers include The Economist Group, Telstra, Amorepacific, Amicorp, Quincannon, and Tripadvisor; WeWork gave up its Manulife Tower footprint during its Singapore pullback in late 2024, which is why nine sizeable fitted floors are on the market now.corporatelocations.com+1
Current Asking Rents — Manulife Tower
Landlord/agent listings are clustered tightly at S$10.00 – S$11.00 psf/month gross (inclusive of service charge), negotiable:
At S$11.00 psf, a 3,907 sq ft fitted unit runs ~S$42,977/month gross; a full 15,134 sq ft floor is ~S$166,474/month gross. WeWork@Manulife Tower still offers serviced desks starting around S$740–S$950/person/month for those wanting flex space instead of a lease (Office Freedom, Osdoro).officefreedom+2
The Micro-Market — Raffles Place / Downtown Core
Manulife Tower sits in the tier just below the “premium Grade A” trophy assets (Marina Bay Financial Centre, Asia Square, IOI Central Boulevard, One Raffles Quay), which is why it prices at a discount to the headline CBD Grade A benchmarks:
Corporate Locations’ Q1 2026 market review classifies buildings around Manulife’s rent point as “upper mid-range,”where the mode rate has settled around S$11.50 psf, with top-tier “prime” mode rents near S$14.00 psf. So Manulife Tower’s S$10.00–S$11.00 asking is roughly S$0.70–S$1.20 below the Knight Frank Raffles Place prime benchmark and S$1.20–S$2.20 below the JLL/CBRE headline CBD Grade A number — a normal spread for a 1999-vintage tower even after its 2025 refurb.
Two-Year Rental Trend (Q1 2024 – Q2 2026)
Quarterly averages from the three most-cited baskets, all in S$ psf/month gross effective:
Sources: Knight Frank Q2 2024 report; Yahoo Finance – Knight Frank Q1 2024; Yahoo News – Q3 2024; Real Estate Asia – Q4 2024; SBR – Q1 2025 JLL; 99.co – Q2 2025 CBRE; Yahoo/EdgeProp – Q3 2025; Stacked Homes – Q4 2025 & Q1 2026; Business Times – Q2 2026; Business Times – landlord aggression.businesstimes.com+9
Over the two-year window: Knight Frank’s Raffles Place / Marina Bay prime basket rose ~4.4% (S$11.20 → S$11.69) and JLL’s CBD Grade A gross effective rose ~6.7% (S$11.42 → S$12.19), hitting a 17-year high in Q1 2026. CBRE reports Q2 2026 marked the sixth consecutive quarter of core CBD Grade A rental growth.stackedhomes+1
Market Direction (chart above)
The chart shows both benchmark lines climbing steadily since Q1 2024, with an acceleration through Q3 2025 – Q2 2026. Manulife Tower’s ~S$11.00 psf asking line sits below both benchmarks, so a tenant leasing here today is effectively renting Raffles Place location at a discount to prime.
Outlook 2026
The four major consultancies converge on continued growth for the remainder of 2026:
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CBRE: ~4.9% full-year growth to S$12.90 psf by Q4 2026.businesstimes.com
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JLL: ~4% for 2026, cumulative ~15% through 2030.news.yahoo
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Cushman & Wakefield: 4–7%.linkedin
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Newmark: 3–5%.news.yahoo
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Colliers: 2–4%.realestateasia
Drivers: investment-grade completions for 2026–2027 are at a three-year low, Core CBD Grade A vacancy has tightened to 3.3–4.1%, and the flight-to-quality plus AI-firm and coworking demand keeps pressure on landlords (CBRE, Business Times).cbre.com+1
Takeaways for a Prospective Tenant
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Value positioning. At S$10.00–S$11.00 psf, Manulife Tower offers a Raffles Place / Telok Ayer MRT address for ~10–15% below the Knight Frank prime benchmark and ~15–20% below CBRE/JLL headline Grade A. Post-2025 refurb helps close the quality gap.
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Negotiation leverage. With 9 sizeable vacancies (including large ex-WeWork blocks up to 15,134 sq ft), and the S$10.00–S$11.00 range visible across agents, there is genuine room to negotiate rent, rent-free fit-out periods, and capex contributions — the “Negotiable” tag is not decoration.
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Lock in soon. With Core CBD Grade A projected to rise another 3–5% through end-2026 and the six-quarter uptrend intact, the current gap to the benchmark is likely to narrow. A three-year lease signed at S$10.50–S$11.00 today would look attractive against the S$12.90+ Grade A benchmark CBRE forecasts by Q4 2026.
Who Manulife Tower Suits Best
- Growing SMEs and regional HQs that want a genuine Raffles Place / CBD-core address without paying trophy-building rent.
- Professional services and financial firms that need proximity to Raffles Place counterparties and clients.
- Tech and AI-adjacent teams scaling out of co-working space into their own self-managed floor, without committing to premium-tier pricing.
- Businesses relocating from the fringe CBD or decentralised areas who want to move closer in without a large rent jump.
Considering an Office Move to Raffles Place?
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WhatsApp +65 8986 1688 · Buy Condo Team, ERA Realty Network · CEA Reg. R009877B
Sources
- CBRE Singapore — quarterly Core CBD Grade A office market press releases, 2024–2026
- JLL — CBD Grade A office rent commentary, Q2 2026 (via Mingtiandi)
- Colliers Singapore — quarterly office market press releases, Q4 2024–Q1 2026
- Knight Frank — Raffles Place / Marina Bay precinct office rent series, Q1 2025–Q1 2026
- Cushman & Wakefield — Comments on URA Real Estate Statistics, Q1 2026
- URA — Office rental index and Category 1 median rentals, 2024–2026
- EdgeProp Singapore, Stacked Homes, Alvinology — CBD office market roundups, 2025–2026
- SparkSpace, Corporate Locations, CommercialGuru — Manulife Tower listings, 2025–2026
