Buy vs Lease Office Space Makati — 10-Year Cost Math
₱363,000,000List price per whole floor
₱326,700,000Cash price — 10% discount
₱259,620/sqmList, per sqm net
1,398.20 sqmNet area per floor
Dec 2027Ready for occupancy

The question behind the question

Rent is an expense.
A floor is an asset

Every finance director who has renewed a Makati lease has done a version of this sum in their head and then not written it down. This page writes it down — the full ten years, three rent scenarios, the year the rent overtakes the purchase price, and an explicit list of everything the model leaves out.

The subject is a whole floor of 1,398.20 sqm net at One Fortis Plaza, 2250 Chino Roces Avenue, Makati City. List price ₱363,000,000 per floor; ₱326,700,000 on full cash settlement, a 10% discount. Ready for occupancy December 2027.

Assumptions — all of them

What the model
assumes

A comparison is only as honest as its inputs, so here are all of them. Change any one of these and the answer changes; bring your own numbers to the briefing and the model will be re-run against them.

Model inputs
InputValue usedNote
Floor area1,398.20 sqm netOne whole floor at One Fortis Plaza
Purchase price₱326,700,000Full cash settlement, 10% off the ₱363,000,000 list price
Lease rate scenarios₱1,200 · ₱1,500 · ₱1,800 per sqm / monthA range, not a quote — use your own live proposal
Lease escalation5% a year, compoundingAnnual escalation is standard in Makati leases; the actual rate is in your contract
Horizon10 yearsThe point of the exercise; shorter horizons favour leasing
Appreciation illustrations5% and 7% a yearIllustrative compounding only. Not a forecast, not a guarantee

Scenario one

Ten years
of leasing

Base rent only, escalating 5% a year. Year one is the area multiplied by the monthly rate multiplied by twelve; each subsequent year is the previous year plus 5%.

Cost of leasing 1,398.20 sqm for ten years
Lease rateYear 1 rent Year 10 rent10-year total Asset owned at year 10
₱1,200/sqm/mo₱20,134,080₱31,234,566₱253,244,295None
₱1,500/sqm/mo₱25,167,600₱39,043,208₱316,555,368None
₱1,800/sqm/mo₱30,201,120₱46,851,850₱379,866,442None

Base rent only. CUSA, utilities, parking and fit-out amortisation are additional and are not modelled. A security deposit (commonly three months) is a cash outlay that is refundable, so it is excluded from cost; any end-of-term restoration obligation is not modelled either.

Scenario two

Ten years
of owning

One payment of ₱326,700,000, then no rent. What varies is only what the floor is worth at the end — and that is an assumption, clearly labelled as one.

Cash out, year 0
₱326.7M
Full cash settlement at the 10% discounted price. Closing fees are additional and parking is transacted separately.
Floor value, year 10 — at 5%
₱532.2M
₱326,700,000 compounding at 5% a year. Illustration of an assumption, not a forecast.
Floor value, year 10 — at 7%
₱642.7M
The same sum at 7% a year. Property values fall as well as rise; neither figure is guaranteed.

The number that decides it

The year rent
overtakes the price

Run the escalating rent forward and add it up until the cumulative total passes ₱326,700,000. That is the year you have handed a landlord the price of the floor — and still do not own it.

Cumulative rent versus the ₱326,700,000 purchase price
Lease rateRent paid by year 10 Crossover yearWhat you own then
₱1,200/sqm/mo₱253,244,295Year 13Nothing
₱1,500/sqm/mo₱316,555,368Year 11Nothing
₱1,800/sqm/mo₱379,866,442Year 9Nothing

Net position after ten years — the ₱1,500 case

Lease versus own, side by side
 Lease at ₱1,500/sqm/moOwn the floor
Total cash out over 10 years₱316,555,368₱326,700,000
Asset held at year 10 (5% appreciation)₱0₱532,159,875
Net position−₱316,555,368+₱205,459,875
Difference in net worth₱522,015,243 in favour of ownership, on these assumptions

Cash out over ten years differs by only ₱10,144,632 between the two routes at this rent level. Almost the entire swing is the asset — which is exactly the point, and also exactly why the appreciation assumption has to be stated rather than buried.

Full disclosure

What this model
leaves out

A model that hides its exclusions is a sales brochure. These are the items deliberately outside the comparison above, and any of them can move the answer:

When leasing is the right answer

Bring your lease proposal to the briefing

Download the floor plate and pricing fact sheet, then send your current lease terms — area, rate, escalation, term — and the model above is re-run against your actual numbers before we meet. Name and email required.

Download the Fact Sheet (PDF)

Keep reading

The rest of the
commercial file

One Fortis Plaza Sky Bar — rooftop venue above Makati

Four whole floors. One owner each.

Stop Renewing.
Start Owning.

Four whole floors remain at One Fortis Plaza. Send your current lease terms ahead of the briefing and the ten-year model is run against your real numbers — not the illustrative ones on this page. Acquisitions are subject to DMCI Homes evaluation and approval.

📍
Property Address
2250 Chino Roces Ave., Makati City

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions buyers ask

Is it cheaper to buy or lease office space in Makati?

Over a ten-year horizon, buying. Leasing 1,398.20 sqm at ₱1,500 per sqm per month with 5% annual escalation costs ₱316,555,367 across ten years and leaves you owning nothing. Buying the equivalent whole floor at One Fortis Plaza costs ₱326,700,000 on full cash settlement — about ₱10.1M more in cash out — and at the end of the ten years you still hold the floor. Below roughly a seven-year horizon the arithmetic tips back toward leasing.

How long does it take for rent to add up to the purchase price?

At ₱1,800 per sqm per month it takes 9 years. At ₱1,500 it takes 11 years. At ₱1,200 it takes 13 years. All three assume 5% annual escalation on a 1,398.20 sqm floor and a ₱326,700,000 cash purchase price. After the crossover year every further peso of rent is pure cost against an asset you never acquire.

What is excluded from this buy-versus-lease comparison?

Deliberately, a lot: association dues and utilities (payable either way), fit-out capital expenditure (payable either way), real property tax and building insurance for the owner, the security deposit and any restoration obligation for the tenant, financing cost if the purchase is not settled in cash, the opportunity cost of the capital, closing fees, and any tax on eventual disposal. The model isolates rent versus purchase price so the shape of the decision is visible; a full net-present-value run against your own cost of capital is prepared at the briefing.

When does leasing actually make more sense?

Four cases. If your horizon in Makati is under about seven years. If headcount is genuinely unpredictable and you may need to halve or double the space. If the capital earns more inside your operating business than the floor will return. Or if you simply need less than a whole floor — One Fortis Plaza is sold by the floor and does not subdivide.

How much does it cost to lease 1,398 sqm in Makati for a year?

At ₱1,200 per sqm per month a 1,398.20 sqm floor is ₱20,134,080 in year one. At ₱1,500 it is ₱25,167,600. At ₱1,800 it is ₱30,201,120. Those are base rent only — CUSA, utilities, parking and any fit-out amortisation sit on top, and most Makati leases escalate annually.

What would the floor be worth in ten years?

That depends on an appreciation rate nobody can promise. As arithmetic: ₱326,700,000 compounding at 5% a year is ₱532,159,875 after ten years; at 7% it is ₱642,668,348. These are illustrations of a compounding assumption, not a forecast and not a guarantee. Property values fall as well as rise.

Can the purchase be financed rather than paid in cash?

Yes — bank financing arranged with your own bank, or DMCI in-house financing. Note that the ₱326,700,000 figure used throughout this page is the full-cash price, which carries a 10% discount off the ₱363,000,000 list. A financed purchase is priced from list and adds interest cost, both of which change the comparison; the briefing runs the model against the actual terms on offer.

Page last updated 2 September 2026. Prices, promo terms and unit availability are confirmed at reservation.

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