FILINVEST REIT Corp. is banking on the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Law in its goal of hitting 95 percent occupancy rate in its office space portfolio before 2026.
Filinvest REIT’s office space portfolio totals 330,448 square meter (sq.m.) composed of 17 Grade A office buildings.
Maricel Brion Lirio, Filinvest REIT president, told investors during the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Strengthening Access and Reach Investor Day recently the company is “proactively rebuilding its portfolio’s occupancy, diversifying its tenant base by signing new traditional companies to replace business process outsourcing tenants that have downsized.
As of end-September, the Gotianun-controlled real estate investment trust (REIT) reported an 83-percent occupancy rate.
It signed in the fist nine months of the year 22,811 sq.m. of new leases, with another 1,724 sq.m. covered by letters of intent, and renewal of 42,400 sq.m. of leases due to expire by the end of the year.
Currently, Filinvest REIT has a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 7.4 years.
“The work-from- home or hybrid setup has changed demand for office spaces, not only in the country, but globally as well. This has led to downsizing and pre-termination of some contracts until the first quarter this year. We believe we have already surpassed the bottom in terms of occupancy, and we are now executing initiatives to further improve the occupancy of our portfolio,” Lirio said.
