PH office space demand to remain robust

Wednesday 8th of November 2017

Offshore gambling operators made up of 25 percent of all office leasing transactions in the nine months to September 2017, according to a report from Colliers International.

Net take up of office space for the first nine months of the year totalled 356,000 square meters, with demand driven by offshore gambling operators and traditional companies.

Colliers said that it expects demand for office space to remain robust, with the Philippines still on track to reach 550,000 square meters of take up in the full year 2017.

The research firm however noted that it was difficult to gauge the sustainability of demand from offshore gambling firms in the medium to long term “given the wide range of space requirement from players in this sector.”

The Philippine Amusement and Games Corporation (PAGCOR) issuing 42 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) licences since last late year, requirements from POGOs have sprung across the Metro, ranging between 5,000 sqm to 30,000 sqm per site.

A total of 153,000 sqm of newly leased space has been recorded from this sector so far, this year.

“Assuming that the legality of their operations is recognised in the Philippines, notwithstanding cases which have been filed with the Supreme Court questioning PAGCOR’s jurisdiction over POGOs, concerns about potential crackdowns in home countries such as China and Korea persist even over a year into the expanded mandate of PAGCOR to regulate these entities,” Colliers added.

Interactive Gaming Office Demand