Issues involving massive corruption are seen as having a temporary impact on the country’s property sector, which has been experiencing robust growth in recent quarters.
‘There might be a pullback on transaction volume, but I don’t think prices are going to fall. I think this is highly temporary,’ Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) chief executive officer David Leechiu said.
‘As far as the property market is concerned, we are very blessed because the office market continues to perform very strongly. Despite all the problems of the world and this country, the property market continues to perform very well. Data centers, malls, office tenants and residential tenants are expanding. And what you see, which is the depression in the stock market and the depression in the currency, it’s all sentiment-driven,’ he said.
In its third quarter Philippine property market report, LPC reported gains in the office market, despite market shifts, with demand reaching 966,000 square meters year-to-date, or 88 percent of the full-year 2024 target, which was achieved without any boost from the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) sector.
LPC said that the IT-BPM industry continues to anchor demand, accounting for the largest share of office transactions nationwide, while the impact of the POGO exit has dissipated and no longer weighs on contractions.
For the residential market, LPC said that Metro Manila is gaining traction, with demand rising, a modest number of new launches, and inventory dropping to 31 months.
Rental yields also remain low, with rents still under pressure due to the lingering effects of the POGO exit.
LPC said that affordability remains a key issue as most units are still priced beyond the reach of the majority of Filipino households.
The upper-income segments are driving market recovery, with sales of luxury units or those priced at P68 million and above soaring by 431 percent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter.