JLL Philippines sees property investments slowing down come election season next year as investors, particularly foreign investors, take a wait-and-see stance until a new set of government officials is elected.
Janlo delos Reyes, JLL Philippines head of research and consultancy, said investors would first like to see “ the result of the election and how policy change will impact their investment positions.”
“We are anticipating maybe a bit of slowdown between now and first half of 2022, but you might see an uptick as we move to the third quarter of next year as we have more clarity in the political landscape and hopefully the COVID-19 (new coronavirus disease) cases had been managed and see a little bit of investment activity across all sector,” Delos Reyes said.
He added the property sector had been posting mixed results due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Office market takeup as of the third quarter of the year was at 72,000 square meters (sq.m.), down 35.7 percent from last year as expansion plans are deferred.
Rents are also down to an average of P1,802 per sq.m. per month from P1,147 per sq.m., last year, a 5.7 percent drop.
Delos Reyes said rentals remain below pandemic levels while vacancy continues to inch up,as lessors and lessees agree on interim arrangement swith shorter lease terms until the situation stabilizes.
The logistics segment meanwhile is seeing increased volume of transactions amid growing e-commerce demand for space, particularly in the advent of the holiday season.
The retail segment is seeing easing vacancy levels as the holiday season approaches, with slower store closures and stable takeup ahead driving average vacancy to decline to 6.1 percent compared with the second quarter’s from 6.7 percent.
Vacancy, however, is still up compared with last year’s 3.7 percent in the third quarter.
