Demand for office space in Metro Manila continues to keep vacancy rates low amid anticipated new office supply.
“A critical factor on the first half’s impressive performance is due to landlords’ willingness to mitigate rents in order to stay competitive,” Fredrick Rara, KMC Savills research and consultancy manager, told the Manila Standard recently.
Strong occupier demand from the offshoring and outsourcing market is expected to keep office space vacancy at reasonable rates in the following quarters, but increasing supply pressure will keep rental rates tempered.
According to KMC Savills data, 263,400 sq.m. of new office space was completed in the second quarter of 2017. Bonifacio Global City (Seen in photo) accounted for more than half of the new supply with 140,800 square meters.
Single-digit vacancy rates were also retained in the Bay Area and Alabang submarket, which composed the rest of the new supply during the quarter. The Philippines remains to be a top location for foreign investments, and have fueled growth in investments in 2016.