The country’s industrial and office leasing segments can expect to post considerable growth next year while the residential segment may not grow as much, according to a top official of a Davao City-based real estate developer.
During The Manila Times’ “Maximizing and Monetizing: Structures and Spaces” online forum on Thursday, Damosa Land Inc. First Vice President Ricardo “Cary” Lagdameo called the office segment one of the “biggest drivers for growth,” especially in his city, because of the business process outsourcing companies that were venturing there over the last decade or so
These include Concentrix, VXI, Sutherland Global Services, Teleperformance, Alorica, Ibex, iQor, Conectys, Flatworld Solutions and SixEleven Global Teleservices.
“Common consensus is that a lot of these companies will be looking outside of Metro Manila to either set up a new office or to expand their existing offices” because of cost efficiencies, Lagdameo said.
There are also investment opportunities in the industrial sector, as companies are looking to set up their factories outside traditional markets like China, he added.
Lagdameo also noted how the increase in electronic commerce, or e-commerce, fueled demand in the warehousing and logistics segment amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. He attributed this rise to “desperate measures to mitigate supply chain disruption.”
Because of the growth in e-commerce activities, the “demand for more and efficient logistics to move also grows,” Lagdameo said. “Naturally, demand for more warehousing and storage grows along with it.”
Although there was a steady demand for house and lots, Lagdameo anticipates growth in the residential segment to be “flat” as it enters 2021 because of competition.
“[A]lthough we’ve been having decent sales, we feel that there is a lot of competition in the [residential] market, so we would probably say that its [growth is] going to be flat going into next year,” he said.
On the tourism sector, Lagdameo said it was among those heavily affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, noting that some properties under this sector saw their occupancy rates plunge by 70 percent year-on-year.
It would take a lot for this segment to rebound, he added.
The Damosa Land official also listed the themes observed in the real estate industry this year: countryside development; employment opportunities amid the government’s Balik Probinsya program; increased demand for warehousing and logistics; stability of the office leasing sector; shift to digital transactions; and the steady demand for residential spaces.