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The industrial sector’s growth is seen to sustain the overall economy, but key concerns must be addressed: power costs, constant fiscal tweaks, labor rules.
WAKING UP PHL’S ‘SLEEPING GIANT’
T
By Roderick L. Abad | Contributor
HE industrial segment is the most promising real-estate segment in 2023, and is seen to continue this 2024 and in the coming years if concerns of business locators are addressed, according to a commercial real-estate service provider.
“The industrial sector continues to be the most attractive investment last year. And for this year, our forecast is that it would continue to stabilize. Many of these industrial locators have already basically predicted and committed their plans for the next five years. So it’s expected to stabilize at around 90 percent [in terms of] occupancy because there are new
supplies that are coming in and will also be absorbed by the market,” Prime Philippines founder and CEO Jettson Yu told reporters in a media briefing held at their office in Ortigas on Thursday. Based on their 2024 Philippine Property Market Outlook Report, he said that the total inventory of industrial spaces in the country at present stands at
“We have a lot of untapped market globally that we could have brought here in the Philippines. If we revive the manufacturing sector, we’d make the Philippines more attractive for these global manufacturing powerhouses to locate their businesses here.”—Prime Philippines founder and CEO Jettson Yu
40 million square meters, including warehouses used by logistics companies, manufacturing facilities, and even cold storages. Prime Philippines alone closed over one million square meters of
industrial spaces nationwide in 2023, of which more than half are built to suit mostly distribution centers requiring ample spaces for loading bays, height clearances, and high concrete force strength. Almost half or around 18 million square meters of the current available industrial spaces in the country remain located in the Southern Greater Metro Manila (GMM) region that includes Cavite, Laguna and Batangas. Bulacan, which forms part of the North GMM, accounts for around 11 million square meters. “Now in the Bulacan area, the current challenge is awaiting for newer supply of quality warehouse spaces,” he said. “And in the heavier manufacturing industry, some would still want Bulacan.” The growth of real estate’s industrial segment is mainly driven by the manufacturing sector, mostly heavy manufacturers that Continued on A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 55.3950 n JAPAN 0.3736 n UK 70.6619 n HK 7.0817 n CHINA 7.6991 n SINGAPORE 41.4633 n AUSTRALIA 36.4554 n EU 60.3141 n KOREA 0.0419 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.7712 Source: BSP (March 15, 2024)