Manila Bulletin – Thu, Jun 6, 2013
In a press briefing, CBRE Philippines chairman Rick Santos said, "The pace and breadth of real estate growth is unprecedented in the country's history... The recent credit investment upgrades offer opportunities for sustaining growth in the Philippine property market."
He added that "the Philippines has all the ingredients and demographics of a sustainable growth market: Record GDP Growth, a large, young, growing, educated and English-speaking workforce."
CBRE vice chairman Joey Radovan said occupancy rates of office buildings are at 97 percent across Metro Manila's Central Business Districts (CBDs) in the first quarter of 2013. Occupancy rate in Metro Manila has consistently been above 90 percent since 2011.
The office sector remained strong as high investor confidence brought vacancy levels in key business districts to hover at an all-time low. Overall average vacancy rates of offices in Metro Manila dropped to 3.21 percent from the recorded 3.43 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.
"This decrease in vacancy rates is attributed to the positive economic outlook, cost-effective rental rates and dwindling availability of quality office spaces," Radovan said.
Makati City, the country's central business and financial district, largely gained from the expansion of multinational corporations while emerging business districts in Metro Manila, such as Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, benefitted from the tightening of supply and increasing rates in Makati CBD.
The growth of BPO full-time employees (FTE) was highest in BGC, Muntinlupa and Quezon City. CBRE Philippines estimates office space take up for 2013 in Metro Manila is at 450,000 sqm and nationwide at 600,000 sqm.
Meanwhile, CBRE research head Jan Custodio said strong demand for residential properties in Metro Manila fringe areas shows that the residential market still hasn't reached its full potential.
"The residential market in regions outside the Metro has been overlooked for quite sometime. But demand in these areas, particularly for single-detached houses, is continuously growing, he noted.
CBRE data disclosed that the average monthly take-up of horizontal residential properties excluding socialized housing for 2012 is 816 units for Central Luzon (Region III) and 1,914 units for CALABARZON (Region IV).
The growth potential in Metro fringe areas remains high, given the stellar take-up in these regions, driven predominantly by overseas workers.
Data from HUDCC shows that the total housing needs in 2013 amounts to 646,128, where 57 percent will come from new households who can afford to own or lease a residential property. This number will balloon to 7.5 million in 2016.
The growing number of OFWs and BPO employees will drive the demand for horizontal developments, particularly for the economic housing developments. BPO full time employees alone grow by approximately 30,000 every year.
Santos added that "the luxury residential sector will continue to pick up, with increasing demand from foreign expats. Expats are now moving from renters to buyers."
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