1 day Ago By N/A (James A. Loyola)
Filinvest REIT Corporation (FILRT), the real estate investment trust of the Gotianun Group, is aiming to restore the occupancy rates of its office leasing assets to 95 percent by 2026 with the full implementation of the law requiring a reduction in work-from-home arrangements. During the Philippine Stock Exchange’s Strengthening Access and Reach (STAR) Investor Day, FILRT President Maricel Brion-Lirio said they expect a boost in occupancy rates due to the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Law. “We look forward for the full implementation of the CREATE MORE law.
This program will potentially increase the return to on site work from 70 percent work from home and 30 work in the office now to just 50:50. We are also looking forward to an increased demand coming from this,” she explained. Brion-Lirio noted that, “The work from home or hybrid setup has changed demand for office spaces, not only in the country, but globally as well.
So this has led to downsizing and pretermination of some contracts until the first quarter this year.” However, she said “We believe we have already surpassed the bottom in terms of occupancy, and we are now executing initiatives to further improve the occupancy of our portfolio.” FILRT hopes to speed up hitting a 95 percent occupancy rate for its 330,448 square meter (sq.
m.) office space portfolio, composed of 17 Grade A office buildings, before 2026. Brion-Lirio said the company is proactively rebuilding its portfolio's occupancy, diversifying its tenant base by signing new traditional companies to replace the business process outsourcing (BPO) tenants that have downsized due to work-from-home arrangements.
As of end-September this year, FILRT reported an 83 percent occupancy rate. It signed 22,811 sq.m.
of new leases in the first nine months of 2024, with another 1,724 sq.m. covered by letters of intent, and renewed 42,400 sq.
m. of leases that are due to expire by the end of the year. Currently, Filinvest REIT has a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 7.
4 years. Brion-Lirio said Filinvest REIT also aims to double its portfolio over the next three years by through asset infusion from the Filinvest Group as well as through acquisitions. “These are grade A office buildings, retail assets under the Filinvest malls and township portfolio and hotels under the Crimson and West brands in key tourist destinations of the country.
“We are also open to infusions of commercial assets from third parties outside of the Filinvest Group granted it will pass assessment and investment criteria in closing,” she said..
