New office space in Manila set for record

Manila

SUPPLY of new office space in Manila is set to break records for the next few years as developers scramble to satisfy demand from global firms such as Google and HSBC looking to outsource business processes to Asia's second fastest-growing economy.

Developers added 466,354 square metres (sqm) of office space last year, near the all-time high of 467,030 sqm in 2009, Colliers International Philippines said in a report this month. That's almost equal to the floor area of two Empire State Buildings and enough for tens of thousands of employees. A total of about 1.85 million sqm of office space is expected to be added between 2015 and 2017 in the Makati, Bonifacio Global City, Ortigas and Quezon City business districts in Metro Manila, according to Colliers.