Colliers: Property sector to benefit from PH growth

THE real estate sector is set to benefit from the Philippines’ recorded economic growth of 7.6 percent in 2022, global real estate management firm Colliers said.

Research Director Joey Bondoc said the momentum of this growth would carry over to 2023 and be a positive signal for the property market that has mirrored the boom-bust cycle of the country’s economic output over the past decades.

“This economic expansion should support positive net takeup of office space in 2023 and continued rebound in Metro Manila’s

pre-selling and secondary residential markets,” Bondoc said.

Colliers said that office transactions in Metro Manila in 2022 reached 603,800 square meters (sqm), up 43 percent, while provincial transactions nearly doubled to 222,800 sqm.

Outsourcing firms accounted for nearly 70 percent of total provincial deals with Cebu, Davao and Pampanga covering nearly 90 percent of total provincial transactions in 2022.

“As for residentials, we recorded the completion of 9,000 condominium units in 2022, a mere 3-percent rise year on year. This brings Metro Manila’s condominium stock to 151,200 units as of end-2022,” Bondoc said.

“In our view, the rising interest and mortgage rates, as well as the increasing prices of construction materials, likely tempered condominium launches in 2022,” he added.

For tourism, Colliers stated that average occupancy in 2022 reached 51 percent, up from 44 percent in 2021.

“In 2023, we project average hotel occupancy in Metro Manila to breach 60 percent due to the influx of more foreign visitors and continued growth from the location staycation market,” Bondoc said.

For the industrial sector, he said the fast-moving consumer goods, third-party logistics and e-commerce will support industrial space absorption as expansion of industrial parks in Central and Southern Luzon will continue in the year.

“Developers of industrial parks and facilities should also prepare for greater take-up as manufacturing investments committed with investment promotions agencies take up space with plenty of them expected to arrive in 2023,” Bondoc concluded.