By Beatriz Marie D. Cruz, Reporter
UNSOLD condominium units in Metro Manila could take about two to a few years to be fully absorbed, particularly in areas previously occupied by Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), property consultancy Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) said.
“I feel it can still take about two years, probably three years, to filter the POGO-induced supply, especially in central business districts where there was heavy POGO presence,” Roy Amado L. Golez, Jr., LPC director for research, consultancy, and valuation, told a media briefing on Wednesday.
As of end-November 2025, Metro Manila’s middle-income condominium inventory rose to 80,300 units across 578 actively selling buildings, up from 74,600 units within the previous quarter. This represents roughly three years and 6 months of accessible supply.
Of the entire, 53,900 units are pre-selling, while 26,400 are ready-for-occupancy. Quezon City recorded the best variety of unsold condominiums at 19,300 units, followed by the Ortigas area and the cities of Mandaluyong, Pasig, and San Juan with 14,200 units, and the Bay Area with 13,000 units.
Metro Manila continues to grapple with an oversupply of units within the upper middle income to upscale segments, typically priced between P4 million and P12 million, particularly in areas affected by last 12 months’s government POGO ban.
“Fewer speculative buyers dampen primary take-up, while motivated sellers from the POGO period compete within the secondary market with aggressive pricing, further slowing absorption,” LPC said.
Residential demand in the primary 11 months of 2025 fell to a six-year low of 24,732 units, down from 42,563 units sold in the identical period of 2020. 12 months on 12 months, units sold declined by 3% from 25,565 units in the primary 11 months of 2024.
“But then, there’s still yet another month to go, so hopefully developers can sweep all of the potential sales and catch up,” Mr. Golez said.
Recent condominium launches as of end-November dropped by 60% to five,256 units from 13,226 units a 12 months ago, marking the bottom level since 29,739 units launched in 2020.
“Now we have a market here where developers are conscious of inventory and are also experiencing low sales. At the identical time, reservation sales and actual sales have been flattening or petering out,” Mr. Golez said.
“The difficulty in the previous few years is that price increases have been too aggressive for a lot of developers,” he added.
Despite the high inventory of unsold units, the Philippines continues to face a growing housing backlog, Mr. Golez noted.
Within the office sector, global capability centers (GCCs) — firms specializing in healthcare, finance, and other services — are expected to drive tenant demand in 2026.
“As we enter next 12 months, there may be a high probability that tenants will proceed to require spaces of 5,000 to 10,000 square meters (sq.m.), especially amongst global capability centers,” LPC Director for Industrial Leasing Mikko Barranda said.
12 months-to-date, office leasing demand in Metro Manila grew 10% to 1.22 million sq.m. from 1.11 million sq.m. throughout the same period in 2024. The data technology-business process management sector accounted for 549,000 sq.m., followed by traditional firms at 563,000 sq.m., global capability centers at 174,000 sq.m., and government tenants at 74,000 sq.m.
Vacated office space within the fourth quarter fell 59% to 85,000 sq.m. from 205,000 sq.m. within the previous quarter. 12 months-to-date, LPC recorded 744,000 sq.m. of vacated space.
“As tenants realize that certain districts have a really tight marketplace for certain space sizes, we’ll likely see spillover activity into other districts,” Mr. Barranda said.
At present, Metro Manila has an office emptiness of 18%, with Bonifacio Global City still probably the most favored location with a 9% emptiness rate, followed by Makati City at 15%.