MANILA – Philippines Capital City, now emerged as the Top choices of real estate investors in Asia Pacific for 2014.
According to ULI and PWC “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2014 Survey”, Manila ranked fourth out of 23 Asian cities in terms of city investment prospects and ranked number eight in city development prospects.
The said report gives pride to the national government and its Filipino citizens despite of the impact of Typhoon Yolanda. Manila increases its revenue because of its fast-growing economy.
Indicators why Manila is the one of the Top Choices is because of the increasing Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), huge Overseas Filipino Workers remittances and increasing Tourist visits in the Philippines where South Koreans are on top list.
Despite of the report that Manila can be a difficult place to invest in due to “laws that prevent foreigners from majority ownership of land, limited ownership of corporations and partly because there is already plenty of domestic liquidity.”
“I know Manila still will be on top investment prospect for 2 to 3 years because of the good governance and government is trying to reform its laws governing investment in the country” – Ryan Bonn Duadua, a Real Estate Broker and Market Analyst. “Also they are now focusing on Anti-Corruption Campaigns and the issues in Manila Port now in the senate hearing just to give way and shorten the lead time of logistics.”
Manila still the best bet in terms of buy rating in residential, offices and retail investment sectors. This shows a higher confidence that last year.
According to the report of ULI and PWC, “an ongoing willingness to look at emerging markets, and in particular Indonesia and the Philippines, as alternatives to other more traditionally favored markets. The reason? Cap rate compression continues to squeeze returns, and with higher interest rates seemingly just around the corner, investors are drifting to markets and asset classes that can provide the kind of returns they are unable to tap elsewhere.”
Manila, which ranked 8th in city development prospects in the survey, was also cited Manila is focused on sub-markets like Fort Bonifacio, which features vacancy rates of just 1 percent. Rents there have risen from 50 percent of downtown Makati a few years ago to 80 percent today. As one investor said, “My bet is that within three to five years, rents in the suburbs will exceed downtown rents, the reason being that downtown always floods and the suburbs don’t.”
This report given by “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific 2014 Survey”, Manila is in positive outlook in terms of real estate investments in Philippines.