Metro Manila to see largest condominium completion since 2018

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Bay Area to have largest condo supply as Metro vacancy nearing pandemic peak

Metro Manila will see the turnover of nearly 11,300 condominium units in 2024, the biggest completion since the 11,700 units delivered in 2018, according to data from leading diversified professional services and investment management company Colliers

 From 2024 to 2026, Colliers sees the completion of 8,000 new condominium units in Metro Manila, much less than the nearly 13,000 residential units turned over in the capital region every year from 2017 to 2019. Colliers recorded the delivery of 1,240 units in Q4 2023. This brought total completion in 2023 to 3,540 units, lower than our earlier forecast of 4,920 units due to delay in the completion of some projects, particularly in the Bay Area. Colliers forecasts condominium completion to recover in 2024 with the delivery of 11,290 units, the largest since 2018. According to Joey Roi Bondoc, Colliers Director of Research, the Bay Area will likely account for more than 60% of new supply during the period. “We also expect this submarket to dominate other Metro Manila sub-locations in terms of condominium supply in 2024. By the second half of this year, the Bay Area will have the largest condominium supply across Metro Manila with 44,000 units, even higher than Fort Bonifacio’s total of 43,800 condominium units.”

Lukewarm Metro Manila pre-selling launches and take-up

In 2023, Colliers recorded the take-up of about 23,400 condominium units in the Metro Manila pre-selling market, an improvement from the 21,600 units sold in 2022. The affordable to lower mid-income segments (PHP2.5 million to PHP7 million per unit) dominated in terms of pre-selling condominium demand in Metro Manila, accounting for 57% of total take-up in 2023. Meanwhile, pre-selling condominium launches reached 24,900 units in 2023, down 4% YOY. In our view, developers are becoming more cautious with their new residential launches especially with still sizable number of ready-for-occupancy (RFO) units in Metro Manila with remaining inventory life currently at 3.2 years. 

Vacancy in the secondary market improves

Vacancy in the secondary residential market dropped further to 16.8% as of end-2023 as vacancies across all sublocations improved. Residential leasing in major business hubs, such as Rockwell Center, Fort Bonifacio, Makati CBD, Ortigas Center, and the Bay Area, was mainly driven by returning expatriates from outsourcing, manufacturing, and logistics industries. Some local employees that are starting to return-to-office (RTO) are actively looking for units to rent, taking advantage of rental corrections for studio and one-bedroom units in prime business districts such as Makati CBD, Fort Bonifacio, Bay Area, and Ortigas Center. Vacancy nearing pandemic peak due to sizable completion in 2024

“We project rents and prices to grow albeit at a slower pace starting 2024. We attribute this to still elevated vacancy given the substantial number of RFO units in the secondary market. We see substantial addition to Metro Manila RFOs given the new units to be delivered especially in the Bay Area,” said Bondoc. “Colliers forecasts residential vacancy to increase to 17.7% in 2024, near the record-high vacancy of 17.9% we recorded in 2021. We see vacancy in the Bay Area submarket rising to 28%, an all- time high, partly due to the completion of more than 7,000 new condominium units this year.”

About Colliers

Colliers (NASDAQ, TSX: CIGI) is a leading diversified professional services and investment management company. With operations

in 65 countries, our 19,000 enterprising professionals work collaboratively to provide expert real estate and investment advice to clients. For more than 28 years, our experienced leadership with significant inside ownership has delivered compound annual investment returns of approximately 20% for shareholders. With annual revenues of $4.5 billion and $98 billion of assets under management, Colliers maximizes the potential of property and real assets to accelerate the success of our clients, our investors and our people. 

PHLPost expand Kadiwa pop-up store to other post offices

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

 

 

The Philippine Postal Corporation (PHLPost) has partnered with the Department of Agriculture in establishing the “Kadiwa pop-up store project” in Tarlac City Post Office in cooperation with the Local Government Units (LGUs) in providing residents and city employees, direct access to fresh and affordable food and basic commodities.

PHLPost would like to expand and replicate the Kadiwa pop-up store program’s rollout in other post offices in the country to provide farmers additional opportunities to market their products.

“Patuloy po ang ating pakikipag-ugnayan at pagpapatupad ng adhikain ng ating mahal na Pangulong BBM na maipalaganap ang proyektong ito, hindi lamang dito sa Northern Luzon kundi sa sa mga siyudad at munisipalidad sa buong bansa na may presensya ang PHLPost”, said Postmaster General Luis D. Carlos during the inauguration ceremony.

PMG Carlos added, “the postal service is now coordinating with the Department of Agriculture to become the logistics provider in part or whole of our farmers and the agricultural sector in transporting goods at cheaper price ”.

As a logistics provider, PHLPost can also deliver or transport their agricultural products such as seedlings, fertilizers, and crops to far-flung areas  without access to major cities in the provinces.

“We can help our small farmers sell their products to cities where there is a potential market for them. PHLPost would like to help and uplift our local farmers to sell their product and improve their livelihood”, Carlos said. 

ABOVE PHOTO CAPTION:

 

KADIWA POP-UP STORE AT PHLPOST. (From left to right) Ariel S. Campo - Postmaster VI, Tarlac City, Ms. Merma Lea R. Abalos, Area Director, Northwest Luzon Area 2, Luis D. Carlos, Postmaster General and CEO, PHLPost, and Ms Carmencita S. Nogoy - Senior Agriculturist, Department of Agriculture during the inauguration ceremony of the Kadiwa store held in Tarlac City Post Office.

UPD Study Investigates Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Mega Manila Rivers

Wazzup Pilipinas!?

Sources of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDC) contamination of Mega Manila rivers. (Photo credit: Sta. Ana, et al., 2023)

Under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) project, “Post-Wastewater Treatment Determination of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds for Interventions,” researchers of the UP Diliman College of Science Institute of Chemistry (UPD-CS IC) studied the rivers of Mega Manila and demonstrated the presence of EDCs, or endocrine-disrupting compounds.

EDCs are mixes of chemicals that can mimic hormones and thus adversely affect hormone regulation in the human body. Long-term exposure to these compounds can lead to a number of endocrine-related health issues, such as respiratory and neurodevelopmental problems, infertility, diabetes, obesity, and even prostate or breast cancer. Because of this, EDCs are considered water contaminants of emerging concern (CEC).

The study of Dr. Maria Pythias Espino and research assistants Kate Galera, and Katrina Sta. Ana is the first to report on the occurrence and concentrations of EDCs in the Marikina, Pasig, Angat, and Pampanga rivers. This provided useful baseline data for DOST’s ongoing research program on “Removal of Excess Nitrogen and Endocrine Disruptors from Wastewater” (RENEW).

“In the Philippines, it is important to know the presence and concentrations of EDCs in aquatic systems because many Filipinos depend on aquaculture and fishing for livelihood and subsistence,” said the researchers in their paper.

E1, or estrone, is a hormone that can induce endocrine-disrupting effects even at low concentrations of long-term exposure, such as fertility issues in aquatic organisms. It had been the only hormone detected to date in this study of the rivers, and its presence was attributed to municipal wastewater since this type of hormone can come from human and animal waste.

Industrial chemicals bisphenol A, nonylphenol, and octylphenol were also detected in the rivers. The researchers surmised that this was due to their extensive use in manufacturing various products such as detergents, textiles, plastics, and many more, but clarified that the concentrations are still below international guideline values.

The US, Canada, and the EU have guidelines for some EDCs in their environmental waters. The Philippines, however, does not have guideline values yet for the regulation of these compounds, nor the wastewater treatment facilities that would ensure the mitigation of CECs. The research team hopes these findings will hasten the formulation of national guidelines for the monitoring and control of these contaminants.

“Even in nanogram per liter to microgram per liter concentrations, these contaminants of emerging concern may have harmful effects on aquatic organisms and humans. The findings are critical evidence of contamination because there are no regulatory guidelines yet on these contaminants in the waterways and water systems,” the researchers explained, pointing out how the risks of EDCs lie particularly in their bioaccumulation and persistence.

“More cleanup efforts, effective regulations in wastewater treatment, and sustainable water resource management policies are needed to improve the water quality of the rivers in Mega Manila,” they advised. The Marikina and Pasig rivers, along with the Angat and Pampanga rivers, all drain into Manila Bay, affecting one of the country’s major socioeconomically important bodies of water.

Water samples from the four rivers were processed by solid-phase extraction and analyzed by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, a method of separating and identifying compounds in ultra-trace concentrations.


References:

Endocrine disruptors. (n.d.). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine


Sta. Ana, K. M., Galera, K. C., & Espino, M. P. (2023) Contamination of bisphenol A, nonylphenol, octylphenol, and estrone in major rivers of Mega Manila, Philippines. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5778










By: Maria Alexandra Marmol