Chinese investors are seriously looking at the Philippine property market, real estate consultancy firm CBRE Philippines said Tuesday.
“There is an extremely bullish interest coming from the Chinese group. We’ve met recently with a delegation from China. Investors from mainland China are definitely seriously considering the Philippines in their investments options,” CBRE Philippines chief executive Rick Santos said.
Santos made the statement during the announcement of a new partnership with global consultancy services group Knight Frank LLP. Santos said his group decided not to renew the CBRE franchise after 23 years of fruitful partnership.
CBRE Philippines associate director for investment properties and capital markets Kash Salvador said Chinese investors developed a strong business confidence in the Philippine investments market partly because of the renewed economic cooperation between the two countries.
“Chinese interest per se is not new to the Philippines. What we have noticed is that more and more of them are starting to make their moves quite seriously. They are saving and have money in their pockets so they can put in more for investments. One has in fact committed to invest in logistics and warehouse operations,” Salvador said.
CBRE Philippines expect residential and industrial developments to lead the growth of the real estate sector in 2017. It said most foreign investments commitments would likely happen next year.
It said manufacturing companies would want to locate within the economic zones where incentives were stable and predictable. Manufacturing and construction continue to attract foreign direct investments.
CBRE Philippines said the real estate portfolio was veering towards industrial investments.
The residential market is also fast growing with developments going beyond Cebu, Bacolod and Iloilo, a trend that would continue over the next five years.
Retail is also expected to yield better output with occupancy rate projected to rise to 98 percent from 90 percent in 2015, amid the influx of more foreign brands and expansion of existing ones.
Upcoming retail developments in Metro Manila are projected to add 560,000 square meters in gross leasable area.
The consulting firm said in the office sector, upcoming developments in Metro Manila were expected to reach 1.2 million square meters in gross leasable area, with the bulk in Bonifacio Global City.
The overall office market is expected to remain robust as the business process outsourcing industry continues to expand, it said.
Santos said the American-dominated BPOs had not wavered in their commitment to continue their Philippine operations.