EXPECTATIONS for the industrial segment of the Philippine real-estate industry remains high as more and more locators, especially from East Asia, are considering moving in to the country for their manufacturing operations.
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lindsay Orr told the BusinessMirror that this sector continues to grow steadily as Japanese manufacturers prepare to decentralize their locations away from China.
“The industrial/warehouse sector also looks promising given the interest now being shown by manufacturers looking to scale down in China,” he said. “Korean and Taiwanese manufacturers [also] look for cheaper opportunities here.”
The Philippines has proven popular with warehousing and distribution companies as both consumer-goods companies and logistics firms have expanded locally in the last few years.
“Warehousing and distribution are other areas that have considerable growth prospects, particularly with the development of more industrial-business parks in Central Luzon and the South,” the COO of JLL said.
Properties in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) area, for instance, typically offer rents from P150 per square meter (sq m) monthly to P200 sq m per month depending on the age of the structure, amenities offered and whether or not it is in a Philippine Economic Zone Authority site.
Meanwhile, Pinnacle Real Estate Consulting Services Inc. said the expanding industrial and manufacturing sector has been filling up even in Clark Special Economic Zone (Clark) and Subic Bay Freeport Zone (Subic). “Between these two special economic zones, the combined available industrial space is less than 150 hectares,” the company said.
From January to July 2014, Clark Development Corp. executed 193 contracts with a total investment of P4.1 billion.