Singapore Facilities Management Industry Tracker, 2020

This study provides an update about the facility management (FM) market in Singapore. The cost of FM services in Singapore has increased from 2017 to 2019. Although this increase has been minimal without much impact, it has driven innovation and strategy planning to improve cost efficiency, service delivery, and quality of services.

Cost is one of key concerns for many organizations, including companies in the FM market. The cost of operations in Singapore is not low in comparison to neighboring countries. As FM services are labor intensive, it is imperative that some level of automation is adopted to reduce labor dependency. However, FM companies may incur initial capital investments and this may result in the rise of service prices.

The Singaporean FM market is well developed with a comprehensive regulatory framework to drive the market. The strong outsourcing culture across the country, together with a conducive business environment, encourages both local and foreign service providers to establish a presence in the country. The greater familiarity of information technologies (IT) across most corporations and increasing need to raise operational efficiency lead to consistent FM demand. Nonetheless, budget restrictions and financial pressure, particularly in non-critical FM expenditure, and saturated end-user segments limit potential market growth and development.

Growth opportunities in the market is expected to be driven by automation and digitization, real-time analytics, FM participation in building design and creation, energy management, and demand from emerging or niche segments. Technology-supported solutions will gain traction among end users with increasing awareness on real-time analysis and better acceptance of an output-based approach on FM engagements. In addition, expanding energy management capabilities are imperative to meet the growing demand of energy services from multinational or large corporations and to meet the upcoming regulatory standards or guidelines on energy management for facilities. Consistent delivery of quality FM services, coupled with constant service upgrades aligned to fast changing national guidelines and standards, is imperative to maintain a foothold in the market. Additionally, demand from conventional end-user segments in Singapore is evolving and is on the rise due to demographic changes, participation from various stakeholders, and emerging workplace arrangements. Therefore, the service price of FM is expected to increase over time to commensurate the innovation and advancement. This study covers the period of 2019 to 2023. Findings in the base year of 2019 are collated from primary and secondary researches with FM providers, facility owners, and internal databases. Forecasts and analyses are verified with industry participants.

Author: Janice Wung