The country’s retail property market witnessed the opening of more stores in the last quarter of 2022 compared to store closures as more foreign brands opened stores, according to Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL) Philippines.
“The retail sector saw more store openings than closings in the last quarter of 2022, with move-ins from several foreign brands,” said Janlo de los Reyes, JLL Philippines’ Head of Research and Strategic Consulting.
Data from JLL showed that store openings totaled 49,800 square meters (sqm) of space while closures totaled 22,300 sqm for the whole of 2022.
JLL pointed out that the holiday surge drove retail store openings in the last quarter of 2022, which carried over to the first month of 2023.
“Foreign brands such as Mitsukoshi, Decathlon, No Brand, and True Value opened new stores, while brands such as Feta Mediterranean, PaperMoon Café, and Levi’s saw store closures or move-outs,”JLL said.
Meanwhile, the property services firm said that the food and beverage (F&B) retail category continued to lead both move-ins and move-outs in the retail sector.
“The last quarter also saw many local brands across different retail categories move-out,”JLL said.
Despite new supply, JLL said vacancy levels declined in the last quarter of 2022 to 5.1 percent.
It emphasized, however, that this is still far from pre-pandemic vacancy levels of around three to four percent.
With leasing activities accelerating, JLL said rents also rose, with average rent per sqm per month at P1,705, a 9.3 percent increase from the previous year.