Retail space vacancy in Metro Manila will continue to increase in the next quarters because of new mall stocks upcoming, property consultancy JLL Philippines said.
Janlo delos Reyes, JLL Philippines head of Research and Consulting , in a press briefing on Wednesday said the upcoming mall space is estimated at 150,000 square meters (sq.m.) from new malls opening by the second half of the year followed by another 120,000 sq.m. by 2026 before tapering off to around 30,000 sq.m. by 2028.
Based on JLL’s Q2 Report, Delos Reyes said rents tightened to around P1,800 per sq.m. per month in the second quarter compared to P1,700 in the previous quarter, indicative of strong demand from retailers and increased foot traffic in existing malls.
However, with new stock, rents could soften to P1,600 to P1,700 per sq.m. per month in the next quarters, Delos Reyes said.
In the second quarter of 2025, JLL Philippines said mall vacancy rate stood at 6.4 percent up from 6.3 percent in the first quarter with a total stock of 7.2 million sq.m.
The highest vacancy is in Paranaque City at 15.3 percent given that Parqal Mall has still a lot of vacant spaces left.
This is followed by Makati City, 11.5 percent given that Glorietta Mall also has a few vacant spaces.
According to Delos Reyes, Bonifacio Global City registered a 4.5 vacancy which indicates strong demand from tenants in the central business district’s malls.
“(While there is) a strong demand coming from retailers as well as increasing foot traffic across different malls, we also expect rentals to lower a bit as new malls come in given that some of them have operational occupancies of around 30 to 40 percent. That will gradually pick up as new tenants enter those mall locations,” Delos Reyes said.
He added that the majority of the new malls that will come in are coming from expansions and new mall developments. These include the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City and Park Links Mall in Quezon City.
Upcoming supply will be led by Quezon City, 164,000 sq.m., followed by Taguig City, 72,000 sq.m. and Makati City, 30,000 sq.m.
Store openings, closings
In the second quarter of 2025, JLL Philippines noted that the majority of the store openings are coming from local brands.
“They’re the ones that were more active in the first half of 2025 compared to foreign brands which only account for around 41 percent of the store openings,” Delos Reyes said.
However, local brands also dominate store closures in the second quarter of the year with only 32 percent shutting down being foreign brands.
General retail dominated the store openings in the second quarter at 26 percent followed by food and beverage, 20.3 percent, and clothing and apparel, 11.3 percent.
Delos Reyes said that the majority of the upcoming brands or upcoming retail categories that are opening over the next couple of quarters are from the food and beverage category at 33 percent,
mainly coming from local brands followed by beauty and wellness also led by local brands at around 80 percent of store openings.
