Thursday, 25 November 2010 00:00 [ manilatimes.net ]
Rental rates in Makati City would likely rise next year because of the lack of new developments amid high demand for space in the area, CB Richard Ellis Philippines said.
In a press conference, Rick Santos, CB Richard Ellis Philippines chairman and chief executive, said demand for space in Makati City would continue to grow as many retailers and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms locate there.
However, the lack of new real estate developments in Makati would reduce vacancy rates in the city, resulting in higher rental rates beginning the fourth quarter of this year, he said.
Santos said the lone development in Makati is the ongoing construction of the 33-storey Zuellig Building at the corner of Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas.
This “green building” is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2012.
Santos said the spate of developments at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City and in Quezon City, where rental prices are expected to be stable, as well as in key urban areas outside Metro Manila such as Cebu, Iloilo and Davao could serve the growing BPO sector and businesses in need of office space.
He said Metro Manila office space next year would grow by a tenth from the 250,000 square meters that are expected to be occupied this year.
The country is poised to have the “best real estate market since 1996,” Santos said, citing “very strong macroeconomic fundamentals” such as the government’s infrastructure thrust through the public-private partnership, stable interest rates, strong inflows of remittances from Filipinos abroad, the continuous growth of the BPO industry, and the expected implementation of the Real Estate Investment Trust.
Ben Arnold O. De Vera
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