The Philippine economy will extend its gains as call center and other business process outsourcing (BPO) revenue rise, interest rates stay low, and President Benigno Aquino boosts investor confidence.
Rick Santos, Philippine chairman of property services company CB Richard Ellis, said economic growth is fueling the demand for office space and property in general.
"People are talking about BPO revenues surpassing remittances, which is an amazing stat considering this industry was basically at zero 10, 12 years ago," Santos said at a briefing in Makati. "Lower government spending affected some of the GDP stats but the domestic economy is still performing well."
"Every foreign investor that we talk to has good things to say about the administration," said Santos, also a vice-president of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines. "President Aquino was the No. 1 choice of foreign investors. Things aren’t perfect, but investors see a very clear upcycle for the next 4 or 5 years."
Santos said demand for Philippines’ office space will rise because rents in other Asian cities are as much 14 times higher than in Manila.
He said U.S. companies continue to downsize, which means they'll outsource more jobs to countries like the Philippines. He said there's even greater take-up of office space here than in better known business hubs.
"Office take-up will well exceed 300,000 square meters this year," he said. "We see that as a huge metric whereas places like Singapore, who also have a very hot market, take up there is just about 150,000 square meters. So were looking at office take up in the Philippines double that of a place like Singapore."
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