Property consultant Colliers said developers have started to look into landbanking on improving environment after two years of restricted movement due to the coronavirus disease 2019.
Richard Raymundo, Colliers managing director, developers are starting to plan their projects. Paul Chua, Colliers head of capital markets, said the company is getting a lot of requests for new areas, particularly the fringe expansion of Metro Manila.
“In case of provincial locations, Iloilo has been a very hot spot. Bacolod, Davao had some interest because of the developments being planned there,” Chua said.
“You (also) can’t go wrong with the usual Laguna- Batangas community area,” he added.
But Chua said land prices have not declined over the pandemic period.
Joey Bondoc, Colliers associate director for research, said the company expects a “a slow, gradual recovery” of the economy, of which the property sector can piggyback into going to the rest of 2022.
“We’re likely to see some recovery in the residential market. There will definitely be some rebound in office leasing. There has been an simprovement in transactions in retail. For the hotel (segment), it will be the domestic travel that will lead the recovery,” Bondoc said.
“It’s a mixed bag… but the fact that more people are now allowed to go out and shop and report to work and visit physical showrooms … these all point to some form of recovery in the property market,” he added.
Dom Frederick Andaya, Colliers senior director for office services, said transactions in the office segment continue to improve driven by traditional and outsourcing firms across Metro Manila.
Colliers expects this year’s net absorption to pick up as occupiers execute expansion and return to office plans.
Net takeup last year hit 422,400 square meters (sq.m.), up 18 percent from 357,400 sq.m. the prior year.
Traditional occupiers engaged in electronic commerce and financial services, as well as government agencies and transport and logistics firms led takeup followed by outsourcing companies.
Vacancy, however, is expected to pick up this year to 18.9 percent from 15.7 percent last year as the market receives 900,000 sq.m. of new supply, nearly 60 percent going into the Bay Area, the Ortigas central business district (CBD) and Fort Bonifacio.
In 2020, vacancy was at 9.1 percent.
Rents dropped 12.4 percent last year, a slowdown from the 17 percent decline in 2020.
Colliers expects a continuing slow recovery of the office segment this year.
It said occupiers should continue seizing opportunities in the market, including lower rates in new buildings in major hubs such as the Bay Area, Ortigas CBD, Quezon City and Alabang.
