Oral Reply to Parliamentary Questions on Hawker Stall Rentals

Oral Reply to Parliamentary Questions on Hawker Stall Rentals by Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment

Mr Yip Hon Weng: To ask the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment regarding the recent record-breaking hawker stall rent exceeding $10,000 per month (a) whether this signifies a trend of escalating hawker stall rentals; and (b) what impact will such a trend have on food affordability and accessibility for Singaporeans.

Answer:

1 The National Environment Agency (NEA) lets out hawker stalls through monthly tender exercises, which are transparent and fair. Tenderers submit bids based on various business considerations, such as client profiles, footfall, expected patronage, and operating hours. NEA does not set any reserve rent or minimum bid price for these tenders.

2 The recent tender for the cooked food stalls at Marine Parade Central Hawker Centre attracted over 40 bids. The bids were quite competitive, with the top five bids above $8,000. Overall, this is a popular centre as it is open for three meals throughout the day and has good footfall, especially given the recent opening of a new MRT station and additional developments near the centre.

3 While a few stalls at popular locations have attracted high bids, such tender prices are not the norm. The median successful tender price for cooked food stalls across hawker centres was about $1,800 in 2023. About 1 in 5 cooked food stalls were also awarded at tender prices at or below $500 in 2023.

4 Based on NEA's survey, on average, rental forms less than 10% of operating costs for stallholders, compared to raw materials and manpower which accounted for 56% and 20% of their operating costs respectively in 2022. Nonetheless, NEA has various measures in place to moderate hawker stall rents. Besides not setting a reserve rent for tenders and disallowing subletting, tendered rents are also adjusted after the first tenancy term of three years towards an assessed market rent determined through independent professional valuation. As a result of the various measures, the median monthly rent of a non-subsidised cooked food stall across our hawker centres is about $1,250, and has remained at this level since 2015. NEA will continue to monitor hawker stall rentals closely.