IT-BPM contributes 26% to Q1 office vacancies
About 26% of the office contraction in the Philippines during the first quarter of 2022 is attributed to the Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) sector.
According to Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) the property market is bound to bounce back despite seeing many spaces left empty during the opening of the year. And among the drivers of this expected rebound is the IT-BPM sector.
“Despite an anti-climactic first quarter, we remain optimistic that the property market led by the office sector will bounce back this year—barring any more extraordinary events.” LPC CEO David Leechiu said in a virtual briefing Monday.
This comes as LPC reported that about 104,000 square meters (sq.m.) of office space were vacated during the first three months of the year.
Meanwhile, only 33% of the Q1 contractions can be attributed to the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) despite suffering the most contractions at the beginning of the pandemic.
LPC stated that the Q1 contraction figures reflect data from Q4 2021, but are lower than the 2H 2020 to 1H 2021 period despite the renewed lockdown brought by the COVID-19 Omicron surge.
In terms of key areas, Metro Manila holds a 19% vacancy rate with Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and Alabang recorded as having the lowest contraction at 285,000 sq.m. and 226,000 square meters sq.m., respectively.
