Metro Manila, Philippines remains a top BPO location and has now entered the list of the top 30 urban centers in the world. According to international property consultancy firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), Manila and 29 other urban areas are projected to be centers of global commercial activity and hubs of real estate investment in the next 10 years. 

JLL’s Global Top 30 report confirmed the dominant position of Manila, Philippines as a top BPO location or business process outsourcing destination in the world. “Rapid urbanization is pushing Manila into becoming one of the largest cities in the world,” said JLL Philippines head David T. Leechiu. Leechiu added that the results meant more people needing more real estate, specifically real estate backed by infrastructure and a credible, thought-provoking, enforceable and sustainable master plan.

The Top 30 list, which started in 2012, is the result of a survey of more than 650 global urban centers. JLL considered weighted variables such as gross domestic product (GDP), population, commercial real estate stock, corporate presence, real estate investment, and air connectivity in determining which cities made the top 30. 

In 2014, JLL named 300 cities that are the “bedrock” of global commercial and real estate activity, accounting for more than half of total commercial real estate investment among the urban centers, and included Manila for the first time. As a whole, Manila showed good numbers for office rental, population, GDP, and GDP growth.

JLL operations director Trixie Syling-Arriola said Manila is no. 17 in office rental growth among the Global 300 and no. 9 among the Top 30, an impressive showing for a first timer. Cebu City is also included in the Global 300.

Manila displaced Madrid in the top 30 urban centers in the world list, indicating the movement of real estate activity towards the Asia-Pacific region. Since 2012, Tokyo, New York, Paris and London have been leading the list and accounting for almost a fifth of the total commercial real estate investments and office stock in the Global 300.