posted March
16, 2016 at 11:55 pm byGabrielle H.
Binaday [ thestandard.com.ph ]
The
Philippines saw a record demand for office space last year, as the country
continued its transition into a service economy, led by the growth of the
business process outsourcing sector,a real estate consulting company said
Wednesday.
“2015 saw
net take-up for premium and grade A office spaces totaling 459,000 square
meters, which is the highest that we’ve recorded,” KMC Mag Group co-founder and
managing director Michael McCullough said.
“Within the
past three decades, the Philippines has started its transformation from a highly
agricultural economy to a service-based one, almost entirely disregarding industrialization that is common to most economies,” McCullough
said.
He said
private services accounted for roughly half of the gross domestic production,
making it the biggest sector of the economy.
“While
primary production, which are agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing and the
industrial sector have continuously decreased, services increased its share to
57 percent of gross domestic product in 2015,” he said.
McCullough
said the shift had contributed to the high economic performance of the country.
Economic
growth since 2010 averaged 6.2 percent annually, the highest average since the
1970s.
McCullough
said the growth of outsourcing and offshoring companies in the country resulted
in a remarkable demand for Metro Manila’s office space.
“Makati’s
central business district maintains its position as the most premium CBD in
Metro Manila, while the Bay Area and Quezon City are expected to continue
outperforming other Metro Manila sub-markets given the supply and demand
dynamics within these markets,” he said.
He said amid
the strong demand for office space in the area, Makati CBD now had an average
rental rate of P980.8 per square meter a month, the highest in Metro Manila.
Vacancies in
Metro Manila are likely to increase in the next three years even with strong
pre-leasing activity due to the entry of some 1.8 million square meters of
office space, most of which are in Makati CBD, Bonifacio Global City, Alabang,
Quezon City and the Bay Area.
The entry of
these supplies is expected to ease the rental growth in most sub-markets in the
coming years, according to KMC Mag.
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