More office space coming; condo launches slow

OFFICE VACANCY levels in Metro Manila may rise with the completion of new projects from this year through 2030, according to property services firm JLL Philippines.

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“For upcoming (office) stock, we havea total of 1.8 million square meters (sq.m.) of new stock coming in between 2025 and 2030,” JLL Philippines Head of Research and Strategic Consulting Janlo C. De Los Reyes said during a media briefing on Wednesday.

“The majority of that new stock will come in the second half of 2025, at 568,000 sq.m., before dropping to around 300,000 sq.m. and 200,000 sq.m. levels between 2026 and 2030. What we're expecting is for vacancy levels to increase, while rentals remain soft in the medium to long term,” he added.

Mr. De Los Reyes said Metro Manila’s office vacancy is expected to reach 18% by yearend, with the current total office supply now at 11.1 million sq.m.

He added that office vacancy for the second quarter slightly declined to 18.2% from 18.4% in the previous quarter.

“What we expect for the remainder of the year is for overall vacancy to remain elevated at around 18%, still within that range, due to the large volume of new stock coming in,” he said.

“Bonifacio Global City and the Makati central business district (CBD) still recorded the lowest vacancies during the quarter, again due to solid demand and interest from both business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and corporate occupiers,” he added.