Technology, media and telecoms (TMT) firms are now among the largest tenants of office space in Singapore, according to CBRE’s latest Asia Pacific TMT Sector Trends 2016 report.

TMT firms leased about 660,000 sq ft of office space between January 2015 and 3Q2016. This made the sector the second- largest contributor in the office leasing market after the banking and finance sector since 2005.

The office space taken up by the sector was mainly in the CBD core region, either in the form of new space take-up or relocations. While the report did not take into account business park space, it noted that the tech and media sector is also a significant contributor to leasing activity in business parks.

“The core CBD and CBD fringe areas have tended to be the preferred locations as tech, media and telco firms have been able to take advantage of attractive leasing deals on offer in the current market,” says Moray Armstrong, managing director for advisory and transactions for CBRE Singapore.