For a 300-workstation head office in Metro Manila, the choice between BGC (Bonifacio Global City, Taguig) and Makati CBD comes down to three things: whether you need a PEZA-accredited building, how much you can negotiate on price and terms, and where your people live. The market data points in two directions. Makati is winning more deals on cost today, while BGC is where most active requirements want to be. This page sets out what the sources say, what they do not say, and how to decide.
A workstation is one seat with a desk, chair and computer setup. PEZA is the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which registers many IT-BPM firms and requires them to operate in accredited buildings.
Floor area is seats multiplied by square meters per seat. A head office usually needs more space per seat than a production floor, because of meeting rooms and executive areas. We use 5 to 7 sqm per seat as a planning assumption, not a sourced standard:
| Density | Formula | Floor area |
|---|---|---|
| 5 sqm per seat | 300 x 5 | 1,500 sqm |
| 7 sqm per seat | 300 x 7 | 2,100 sqm |
Operator sites on the FlySpaces Cebu list run at 3.0 to 3.6 sqm per seat, which would give 900 to 1,080 sqm for 300 seats (300 x 3.0 and 300 x 3.6). Test your density with a space planner before you compare buildings.
| Measure | BGC | Makati CBD | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office vacancy | 9% | 15% | Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC), end-2025, via BusinessWorld, 20 Jan 2026 |
| Office vacancy, H1 2026 | 8% | not reported in our sources | LPC, via Outsource Accelerator, 2026 |
| Average rent, PHP per sqm per month | 1,167 | 891 | LPC, end-2025, via BusinessWorld, 20 Jan 2026 |
| Office take-up, Jan to May 2026 | 52,000 sqm | 102,000 sqm | LPC, via BusinessWorld, 23 Jun 2026 |
| Live demand (active tenant requirements) | 112,000 sqm | 25,000 sqm | LPC, via BusinessWorld, 23 Jun 2026 |
Reading these together: Makati took 66% of deals in the first five months of 2026, and LPC attributes that to softer rents and flexible lease terms. Managed office operators, government agencies and corporate headquarters were among the key drivers. BGC accounts for 82% of live demand, which means more occupiers are competing for space there. Average rents are not what you will be quoted for a specific floor, so ask each landlord for a current offer.
On supply, LPC's H1 2026 data, as reported by Outsource Accelerator, found that BGC has only five buildings offering 5,000 sqm or more of contiguous space, and that no new office supply is scheduled in Makati CBD until after 2028. A 300-seat head office needs well under 5,000 sqm, so the large-block shortage does not limit you. Availability on specific floors does, so ask early.
If your head office is an IT-BPM or shared-services operation registered or registering with PEZA, the building must be PEZA-accredited. LPC describes BGC as the preferred address for large PEZA-accredited requirements. Makati also has PEZA-accredited buildings (the PEZA entry on Wikipedia lists several), so check the building and floor, not the district. If your head office does not need PEZA, this criterion drops out and cost and commute decide.
Local business tax is set by each city, and the rate that applies depends on how your business is classified. Our draft figures for Taguig and Makati had no source, so we do not publish them here. Ask your tax adviser to compute both cities' local business tax and real property tax exposure on your own revenue, and add the result to the rent comparison. We also have no dated, sourced figures for managed suite seat rates in either district, so request written quotes from operators.
Map where your 300 staff live before you choose. Then check, for each shortlisted building, the commute at the hours your teams travel, nearest public transport, parking and motorcycle bays, and lift wait at peak times. We did not publish parking ratios, since we have no sourced figures for either district.
| If this is your priority | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| Negotiating room on rent and terms today | Makati, where vacancy is higher and LPC reports landlords offering competitive rates and flexible terms |
| PEZA-accredited space for IT-BPM operations | BGC, then verify the building and floor, and check Makati buildings too |
| Room to expand within the same district | BGC has tighter supply of large blocks, while Makati has no new supply scheduled before 2028, so ask landlords about expansion rights |
| Short lead time and no fit-out spend | Either, through a managed operator; ask for contiguous 300-seat availability in writing |
Tell FlySpaces your headcount, whether you need PEZA, and where your staff live, and the team replies with a shortlist that fits. Inquire here