VISAYAS and Mindanao are emerging as the country’s next major real estate growth hubs amid rising business costs and changing market demands, according to property consultancy Prime Philippines.
Its 2026 Special Market Report, “Beyond the Metro: The Decentralization Playbook,” noted that companies preferred cheaper locations with access to labor and new growth corridors outside the national capital region.
“Decentralization is evident but remains additive, not substitutive,” Prime Philippines Vice President for Visayas-Mindanao Ruth Coyoca said, referring to the rise of regional growth centers that complement, rather than replace, Metro Manila’s traditional business districts.
Emerging markets such as Iloilo City, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City were benefiting from strong population growth, competitive wages, and expanding infrastructure projects, Coyoca said.
The report said Cebu continued to post strong office and warehouse demand for business process outsourcing, information technology, and logistics companies.
“Robust office pipelines are expected to accelerate office lease rate growth beyond 2.4 percent and further segment premium versus non-premium markets,” Coyoca said.
In Bacolod, major developers were ramping up investments as the city’s economic fundamentals strengthened. Some 100,000 square meters of new retail space are expected to be launched over the next three years, while office demand continues to be driven largely by the information technology-business process management sector, the report said.
Davao was described as “statistically the only landlord’s office market” due to sustained occupancy and limited vacancy. The city also posted one of the country’s lowest warehouse vacancy rates at 2.4 percent.
The report also identified the Uptown Corridor in Cagayan de Oro as a future commercial growth center amid planned township and retail developments.
Geopolitical uncertainties and rising construction costs could still temper expansion plans, although decentralization trends were expected to continue over the medium term, Prime Philippines Executive Vice President Cholo Florencio said.
