Urgent need for affordable housing, office space to drive Philippines’ buildings sector
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ demand for affordable housing and office space should boost the nation’s buildings sector, a Fitch unit said Thursday.
In an industry analysis sent to the media, Fitch Solutions said it forecasts the country’s residential and non-residential buildings sector to grow by an average of 9.3% annually from 2019 to 2028.
“The residential buildings sector will be an outperformer, given rapid urbanization and the urgent need to provide affordable housing,” Fitch Solutions said.
“The creation of a unified authority handling housing issues will decrease red tape and accelerate growth of the sector,” it added.
“The anticipated increase in demand for commercial office space, with the country flourishing as an outsourcing destination, will boost growth of the non-residential buildings sector,” it continued.
Data provided by the Fitch unit showed that in the first quarter, the number of building permits approved for the residential sector increased by 9% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, around 114,000 residential building permits were approved in 2018, about 12,000 more than what was observed in 2017.
“The construction of these new projects will feed into our growth forecasts, and we believe this positive trend will continue over the next few quarters given favourable government policies and an urgent need to provide housing,” Fitch Solutions said. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral
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