Office market overshoots forecast in 2018 — Colliers

MANILA, Philippines — Net take-up of office spaces in Metro Manila jumped 31 percent year-on-year in the final three months of 2018, bringing the full-year tally above initial projection, the Philippine unit of real estate consultancy Colliers International said in a new report released Wednesday.

According to Colliers, net take-up in the fourth quarter of 2018 stood at more than 370,000 square meters, beating its initial forecast of 344,000 sq meters.

For the entire 2018, total net take-up reached 1.18 million sq meters, a record-high for Metro Manila and exceeding Collier’s 1.15 million sq meters projection for the year.

“Colliers projects a net take-up of about 1 million sq m (10.7 million sq ft) in 2019 due to sustained demand from outsourcing and offshore gaming firms,” the real estate consultancy said.

“Based on Q4 2018 pre-commitment status, we expect Alabang, Makati CBD, Fort Bonifacio, and the Bay Area to record the strongest take-up in 2019,” it added.

“For 2019 to 2021, we project net take-up to average around 900,000 sq metres (9.69 million sq feet) per annum.” — Ian Nicolas Cigaral