Rush of Chinese arrivals on back of Manila’s booming gaming industry stokes property market
Observers expect home prices in the Philippines capital to get a boost from the steady stream of Chinese workers catering not only to offshore gaming customers, but also mainland clients who frequent bricks-and-mortar casinos
In Manila’s main financial district and its fringes, signs of the new inhabitants are everywhere: the restaurants serving steaming Chinese hotpots and dumplings, the Mandarin broadcasts at the Mall of Asia, and the soaring property prices.
An estimated 100,000 migrants, mostly Chinese, have flooded into pockets of the Philippines capital since September 2016, and the deluge is rippling through the city’s property market in ways that are unique among the world’s urban centres.
While Chinese investors have been snapping up big swathes of high-end housing in Hong Kong, London and New York for years to move their money offshore, this new rush is motivated by something different: Manila’s booming gaming industry.
More than 50 offshore gambling companies that cater to overseas Chinese punters have received permits to operate in the city since President Rodrigo Duterte’s government began awarding licences 19 months ago. While bets are placed remotely, the operators need Chinese speakers in Manila to handle everything from marketing and customer queries to payment processing for overseas clients.
The resulting migration, while only a fraction of the metropolitan area’s 12.9 million population, is propelling home prices to record levels in neighbourhoods favoured by Chinese workers. It’s reinvigorating Manila’s commercial property market as owners convert offices and shops into gaming centres with card tables and webcams. And it’s boosting the bottom lines of local developers including Ayala Land and SM Prime Holdings.