TAN-LED Megaworld Corp. said it leased out 415,000 square meters (sq.m.) of office space since the pandemic began last year, which were mostly booked by information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.
Some 60% of the lease contracts booked since last year were renewals, while 50% accounted for new leases.
Megaworld said new leases and renewals were recorded in Eastwood City, McKinley Hill, Uptown Bonifacio, Cebu-based The Mactan Newtown, Southwoods City in Biñan in Laguna, and Davao Park District in Davao City in the first six months of this year.
“Around 80% of these leases in the first half of the year are renewals. This means, BPO companies opted to stay and held on to their spaces,” Megaworld Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Andrew L. Tan said in a statement on Thursday.
“This also clearly indicates the strength and resilience of the office market within our pioneering townships,” he said, adding that the township model plays to the company’s advantage.
Megaworld said it fully leased its Southwoods Office Towers based within its 561-hectare Southwoods City earlier this year, as an American renewable energy company and a BPO firm specializing in customer care solutions leased out the remaining spaces.
In the first half of the year, one of the country’s largest BPO firms also leased out four levels of Megaworld’s Davao Finance Center inside its 11-hectare Davao Park District.
The company said occupancy rates of its Megaworld Premier offices are still at 90%.
Meanwhile, some of its townships are achieving occupancy rates as much as 100%, such as Iloilo Business Park. Shares of Megaworld at the stock exchange climbed by 0.7% or two centavos on Thursday, closing at P2.87 each. — Keren Concepcion G. Valmonte