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COMMERCIAL real-estate services leader CB Richard Ellis
(CBRE) has described the Philippines as the “hottest”
real-estate hub in Southeast Asia.
Venue
for the tribute was the recently held SMART Investment
and International Property Expo, one of the largest and
longest-running real-estate expositions in Asia, at the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
 CBRE
Philippines general manager Trent Frankum spoke on the
topic, “The Philippines: The Hottest Market in Southeast
Asia,” on the second day of the expo, which showcased
global real-estate market opportunities and featured
property experts and investors from global companies
headquartered in Asia, Australia and the UK.
“Investment opportunities in tourism, infrastructure,
mining and real estate remain high in the Philippines,”
said Frankum. “Foreign investors are looking at the
positive effects of the stable Philippine peso,
increasing tourist arrivals, the BPO [business-process
outsourcing] boom, and the positive effect of overseas
Filipino worker dollar remittances into the country.”
Last
year tourist arrivals broke the 2-million mark for the
first time since 2004, with arrivals rising to 3.091
million. CBRE expects new markets, such as Russia,
Middle East, China and Korea, to help in sustaining
tourism growth. CBRE is also projecting arrivals to
increase to 3.4 million this year and generate $5.8
billion in international tourism receipts.
According to Frankum, hotel-room occupancy rates rose to
73.06 percent in 2007 from 71.95 percent in 2006. “New
hotel and resort developments are currently in strategic
business locations such as Makati City, Fort Bonifacio
and the Bay Area, as well as top tourist destinations
such as Cebu and Boracay, further enhancing industry
prospects,” Frankum said.
New
development projects include the $153-million Kingdom
Hotel, a combined hotel and residential condominium that
will rise in Makati City.
“We
expect 18,143 units to be provided from 28 upcoming
residential condominiums in Makati targeted for
completion between 2008 and 2013. Likewise, in Fort
Bonifacio, 11,652 units are expected to come on the
market from 33 residential condominiums being
constructed from 2008 to 2012.”
Meanwhile, the offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) boom in
the Philippines has created new opportunities for the
real-estate market, Frankum stressed. “Major investors
and businesses are looking at the Philippines because it
is one of the largest English-speaking nations in the
world and has 33.5 million Filipinos in the work force,”
Frankum noted.
As a
result, major multinational BPO operators are currently
expanding their presence in the Philippines, Frankum
further said. As an example, he cited Accenture, which
has already leased 1.3 million square feet. Other
companies like TeleTech have built facilities outside
Metro Manila. All of Teletech’s six facilities are
located outside the Philippine capital.
In
addition, major financial companies such as HSBC,
Citigroup and JPMorgan have been expanding Philippine
sites of their respective customer-support operations.
HSBC currently has four locations, which total 859,200
square feet, and plans to open more sites.
Citigroup and JPMorgan, on the other hand, have 214,812
and 107,400 square feet of space leased, respectively.
“Third-party BPOs are not stopping in their expansion,
with a handful such as Convergys, IBM, Sykes, TeleTech
and PeopleSupport already pursuing and have secured more
sites in the country,” Frankum said.
Other
major O&O service providers continue to develop sites in
Metro Manila and Metro Cebu. According to CBRE research,
a total of 731,871 square meters of property in Metro
Manila has been earmarked for new O&O facilities this
year, with 189,614 square meters already precommitted
before commencing construction. “Offshoring and
outsourcing will continue to drive demand for real
estate, particularly in the office-space market,”
Frankum said. |
