- Published on Tuesday, 20 November 2012 21:09
- Written by Dennis D. Estopace / Reporter
AMERICANS and Europeans owe us and owe us big, according to C.B. Richard Ellis Philippines Inc. (CBREPI).
Hundreds of Filipino
workers burning the midnight oil and their youth, especially in
business-process outsourcing (BPO) companies, have propped up business
in the United States and European Union, CBREPI said in a statement.
“The Philippines is
becoming the lifeboat for many US and European companies that need to
outsource in order for their businesses to survive and actually preserve
jobs back in the US and Europe,” it added.
The Philippine office
of the Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc. also said that it sees “a
return to and rapid expansion of” US and European multi-national
companies (MNCs) in the Philippines, which is fast becoming the “BPO
banking hub of Asia.”
CBRE Chairman Rick
Santos was quoted in the statement as having said that such is “evident
from global banks that are now relocating in the country for back-office
support.”
“We are a
multinational player without leaving our shores. Manila is now a
strategic location for [MNCs and] banks as it supports and runs the
world’s businesses out of the Philippines.”
The company said the BPO sector has created 4.5 million square feet of new office takeup a year.
It also helped that
the pace of infrastructure projects continued, with CBRE citing
“improved access to the Clark Freeport Zone via the rehabilitated Nlex
[Northern Luzon Expressway] and its link to the C-5 road.”
“These resulted in
renewed interest to set up business in Clark such as logistics,
manufacturing, hotels, housing and condominium as well as
built-to-purpose BPO buildings.”
However, while the BPO
sector largely spurs increased real demand across all market segments
in the residential front, CBRE says “demand for the high-end market will
be sustained in 2013.”
“Developers will focus
more on mid-income residential market segment within the P45,000
[$1,093.10 at $1=P41.1675] to P80,000 [$1,943.30] square meter range
reflecting the demand created from the growing population of families
and young professionals and supported by the record-low interest rates.”
Santos said that low
interest rates, ranging from 5 percent to 11 percent for short- or
long-term payment schemes, “has opened the opportunity for more
Filipinos to become owners rather than renters.”
Aside from BPOs, CBRE
also noted that other economic growth drivers remain: dollar remittances
from overseas Filipino workers and the tourism industry.
Santos also said it also helped that “US-Philippines relations [are] back on track.”
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