DEMAND for condominiums and co-living facilities is on the rise as more employees are choosing to live near business districts amid worsening traffic in Metro Manila, according to a real estate consultancy company.

In a recent briefing in Makati City, Colliers International Senior Researcher Joey Roi Bondoc said results of his firm’s survey showed that 45 percent of employees in the National Capital Region (NCR) were willing to live near their workplace on account of the one to three hours they spend traveling to the business districts.

“The construction and rehabilitation of railways and expressways across Metro Manila [have] resulted in unbearable traffic jams across the capital’s major roads,” he explained.





Bondoc also said employees were willing to pay from P4,001 to P6,000 a month to live in a co-living facility, instead of spending over P4,500 monthly in commuting.

Nearly 35,000 employees in Metro Manila, mostly from Makati, are choosing such living conditions, but only 7,290 beds are currently available, according to him.

“This is…an opportunity for major developers to expand their presence in the co-living segment, especially if they intend to build similar projects outside Metro Manila,” Bondoc said.

Colliers said that, as of end-September, 8,200 condominiums in NCR were completed, of which 61 percent are in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City. Ortigas Center came next at 22 percent, followed by the Bay Area at 17 percent.

This prompted the company to raise its year-end condominium stock forecast to 128,500 units from the previous 128,050.

By the end of 2021, Colliers sees this inventory to grow to 152,000 units, up 28 percent from 2018’s 118,900.

Eighty percent of the new supply from 2019 to 2021 are expected to be in Fort Bonifacio and the Bay Area.

“Fort Bonifacio remains a key business and knowledge process outsourcing hub, housing some of the largest outsourcing occupants in Metro Manila, such as Google, Facebook, Tenet Health and JPMorgan,” Bondoc said.

“The demand for residential units in the Bay Area has been driven mainly by Chinese offshore gaming firms as it has become a hotbed for offshore gaming operations in Metro Manila,” he added.

With more units being completed, Colliers said Metro Manila’s secondary residential vacancy could reach 10.9 percent this year.

Rental rates in the capital are also expected to rise by 6.8 percent annually from 2019 to 2021, it added.