LEECHIU Property Consultants Inc. said Philippine online gaming operators (POGOs), composed of mostly Chinese players, and the traditional business-process outsourcing (BPO) firms will continue to drive the office market this year despite a series of scaling down of operations during the lockdown.
David Leechiu, the company’s president, said POGOs and other companies have cut back their operations in the first half of the year, resulting in a higher 8-percent vacancy rate.
A total of 89,000 square meters were vacated, with POGOs accounting for half of the spaces vacated, followed by the BPOs at 12 percent. The rest was accounted for by other companies.
“Tax regulations and movement restrictions curtailed POGO growth and, in some instances, led to contraction,” he said.
The company said there were a total of 234,000 square meters of new leases, and 89,000 square meters of vacated spaces, resulting in a net absorption of 145,000 square meters.
“The Philippine office segment has not yet entered a point of contraction,” Leechiu said, adding that POGOs and BPOs will continue to be two major pillars of growth for the local office sector.
He said of the 482,000 square meters in office requirements for the second half of the year, some 68 percent are still coming from the POGO and BPO sectors.
Leechiu said more support should be given to these two sectors as these are the fastest-growing job generators.
“The sustained growth of these sectors will allow us to bounce back from this pandemic swiftly. We need as many employers as possible to help our economy,” he said.
Image credits: Asia Times