Pinoy Gen Zs emerging as self-rewarding, intelligent consumers–study

“Deserve ko ‘to!” (I deserve this!)

It’s a phrase that Filipinos have come to use to reaffirm their spending habits, which sometimes can be described as compulsive, especially when facing tempting discounts and promos that are offered right around pay days.

It’s a behavior that’s seen strongly among today’s Gen Z consumers, who spend primarily to reward themselves, says a recent study—one that is crucial for brands to understand in order to cater to this growing demographic, and facilitate immersive shopping experiences that promote convenience and appeal to their personal preferences.

The study, jointly conducted by Filipino-focused sociocultural research firm The Fourth Wall and communications firm Uniquecorn Strategies, says that three out of four Filipino Gen Z consumers living in urban areas shop online because they believe that they deserve it—a philosophy driven by their desire for happiness, fear of missing out on trends and the need to simply give themselves a gift for overcoming work or study-related stress.

The survey, conducted among 400 Gen Z consumers in Metro Manila, shows that 50 percent of a typical Filipino Gen Z’s finances come from parental allowances, while the other half come from full-time work, businesses, or side gigs. On average, they make six online purchases per month, ranging from a minimum of one to a maximum of 10.

Citing prior research, the study notes that there are about 41 million Gen Zs (born between 1996 and 2010) in the Philippines, making up about 38 percent of the total population, according to Philippine Statistics Authority’s latest official 2020 census.

“The young generation is rapidly becoming a significant portion of the consumer market, and is already shaping market trends, especially the e-commerce space,” says John Brylle Bae, research director at The Fourth Wall. “This self-rewarding behavior among Filipino Gen Zs stems from their growing self-awareness, driving them to seek rewards that affirm that sense of self-worth.”

The research, which leveraged machine learning clustering and social listening, also identify five dominant psychographic profiles of urban Filipino Gen Z consumers, who have distinct preferences and motivations:

• the Austere Austins, who prioritize budget-friendly options;

• the Budgetarian Bellas, who focus on cost-effective choices;

• the Frugal Fionas, who advocate for affordable and sustainable products; and

• the Deserving Desires, who seek rewards for their hard work and dedication.

Intelligent buyers

Overall, however, Filipino Gen Zs are intelligent buyers, the study states. They splurge based on quality (81 percent) and price competitiveness (10 percent), and are most likely to repurchase from the same brand that consistently delivers high-quality and affordable products. Still, they are willing to try other brands, even if they are emotionally attached to their preferred ones.

The study also shows that Filipino Gen Zs buy based on trust and personal affinity. Upon hearing about a product, 81 percent do their due diligence and look up customer reviews first on shopping platforms and Google.

Word of mouth, therefore, is still one of the primary ways they discover products (60 percent), while others rank social commerce ads (59 percent) as important to their shopping experience. They take cues from the people they deeply trust, which include friends and family. They are also more influenced by honest, objective, or out-of-pocket reviews from influencers or content creators with the right expertise.

These digital natives, naturally, also prefer the convenience of online shopping. Almost all the respondents (92 percent) use their own mobile phones for purchases and prefer cashless payment methods (53 percent).Given this, the study identifies several key opportunities for brands to connect with Filipino Gen Z consumers more effectively:

There is a significant potential for advertising on more personal yet credible emerging media platforms such as podcasts, and brands can leverage self-expression and identity in their branding to establish a personal affinity with target customer personas.

Tuning into these behaviors, says Uniquecorn Strategies founder and CEO Dean Bernales, will ultimately help brands come up with the right strategy to employ to capture the Gen Z market.

“Retailers should pay close attention to the shopping desires and needs of Filipino Gen Zs. Brands need to reassess their supply chain strategies and enhance their social commerce platforms to build trust, create personal connections and develop a relatable image to capture the young market,” Bernales says.

Source: Inquirer

Which generation had the worst property deal?

UK Buyers today will have to spend seven times their salary on a home — but those in the 1970s faced double-digit mortgage rates.

Much debate rages around which generation actually had it worse when it came to getting onto the property ladder. Many baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, remember the painful days of mortgage rates as high as 17 per cent, while today’s first-time buyers are contending with comparatively higher house prices.

The estate agency Hamptons looked at the data to try to work out which generation had the worst deal. Here is what it found.

Whose homes lost value?

Despite an overall rise in house prices those Generation Z first-time buyers who got on the ladder in 2020 would be the first to have experienced real-terms property values fall during their first five years of ownership. Average prices have dropped 3 per cent when adjusted for inflation, accordiong to Hamptons.

A typical millennial (those born between 1981 and 1995) who bought their first home in 2011 in their mid-twenties made an average real-terms gain of 13 per cent over five years. Whereas a Generation Xer (born between 1966-1980) who bought their first home in 1996 enjoyed 44 per cent growth in real terms over the first five years.

Hamptons said that a baby boomer first-time buyer in 1979 benefited from average real-terms house price growth of 35 per cent in the first five years. Someone of the so-called silent generation (born between 1928-1945) who bought a first home in 1968 saw the value of their home rise 106 per cent in real terms in the first five years.

Having struggled to get on the property ladder, the youngest homeowners now face being stuck on the first rung.

Whose house prices boomed?

In April 1968 the average house price was 4.29 times the typical annual salary, according to the Office for National Statistics. This, apart from two spikes in the early 1970s and late 1980s to early 1990s, remained largely constant for the rest of the 20th century. An average home in April 1979 was 4.29 times the average wage, and 3.8 times in April 1996.

But a period of sustained house price growth followed, with the average property rising 173 per cent between 1995 and 2007 in real terms, causing the gap between wages and property values to widen.

In April 2011 the average home was 6.58 times the average salary. In April 2020, this had increased to more than 7.69, hitting a peak of 8.23 in September 2022.

David Fell, an analyst at Hamptons, said: “House prices have risen much faster than wages over the last couple of decades mostly thanks to falling mortgage rates. Since interest rates were reduced to rock bottom levels in response to the 2007 house market crash, buyers could generally borrow significantly more money than someone earning the same salary 20 or 30 years ago, pushing prices up.”

Whose payments were highest?

Between the mid-1970s and early 1990s the Bank of England base rate, which influences mortgage rates, was often in double figures, hitting a high of 17 per cent between November 1979 and July 1980.

In response to the 2007-08 financial crisis it was cut to 1 per cent in February 2009 and remained at this rate or lower until June 2022, when the Bank began raising it in an attempt to tackle inflation. It hit a high of 5.25 per cent in August 2023 and is on the way down again now — this month it was cut from 4.25 per cent to 4 per cent. The average mortgage rate offered across the market is 5 per cent, according to the analytics firm Moneyfacts.

But Neal Hudson from the property market researcher Residential Analysts said that lower mortgage rates only tell part of the story.

“Yes the rates were higher in the 1970s and 1980s, but these people were borrowing much lower multiples of their income,” he said. “Buyers are now borrowing nearly double what they were back then, so it takes a much lower mortgage rate to create the same level of pain.”

Someone paying the average house price of £213,000 in January 2020 would have paid £73,900 in mortgage payments on the average rate of 3 per cent. Hamptons based its calculations on someone with a 10 per cent deposit and a 25-year mortgage term.

A homeowner who bought in 2011 — when the average house price was £234,000 and the base rate was 0.5 per cent — would have spent £48,700 on their mortgage in the first five years, assuming they had the average mortgage rate of 1.7 per cent.

Yet someone who bought at the start of 1979, when the average house price was £13,800 and the base rate was 14 per cent, would have spent £41,500 on their mortgage in the first five years of homeownership, assuming the average 9.6 per cent mortgage rate and adjusting for 2025 prices. The 1979 average house price would be £55,100 in real terms today.

Fell said: “Millennials faced higher purchase prices than the previous two generations but much lower interest rates, while the boomers and Gen X paid higher interest rates but the prices were lower.

“Gen Zers, however, are being hit with relatively high prices and relatively high interest rates now as well.”

Who has the least equity?

Sluggish house prices combined with higher borrowing costs will also make it more difficult for those looking to move because they will struggle to build up enough equity to fund a switch to a bigger home.

Hudson said: “Previous generations have benefited from house-price growth to allow them to move into larger properties, whereas these days, it’s much harder and so you’re seeing people moving much less frequently.”

Using Bank of England data that predicts mortgage rates up to 40 years in the future, Hamptons estimates that the average homeowner who bought in 2020 would pay about £191,000 across the first half of a 25-year mortgage term. Over the second half of their term, they would pay £208,000.

It is a far cry from the experience of older generations. The typical baby boomer first-time buyer paid £93,900 in real terms in the first half of their 25-year mortgage, dropping to £64,700 in the second half. Those belonging to Generation X paid an average of £112,294 in the first half, falling to £75,697 in the second.

Recent increases in mortgage rates have also caught out millennials. Hamptons forecasts that this generation will have to pay £185,600 on average in mortgage payments across the second half of their mortgage, well above the £117,500 they paid the first half.

“In previous generations, homeowners would have climbed up the career ladder and inflation would have made the second half of their mortgage easier financially,” Fell said. “With millennials and Gen Z likely to see their mortgage payments rise, it will erode that feeling that their loans are getting more manageable.”

He said this was likely to mean fewer members of those generations paying off their mortgage early — a key milestone for anyone wanting to retire early.

What about the renters?

Those waiting to buy their first home generally need to either live with their parents or navigate the rental market, where costs have never been higher.

The average monthly rent in July 2025 was £1,373 a month — 47 per cent higher than ten years ago. It cost more than three times as much in real terms to rent in the last five years than it did for someone who started a five-year tenancy in 1979.

Someone who started renting in January 2020 would have paid an average of £86,750 over five years, having been caught up in the post-pandemic boom in rents. Someone who started a tenancy in 2011 would have paid £74,283 over five years in real terms, while someone who started renting 1979 would have paid £23,740 in today’s prices.

Higher rental costs make it more difficult to build up enough savings for a house deposit, exacerbating the challenges of getting on the property ladder amid inflated house prices.

For boomers and those in the silent generation, renting was cheaper than paying a mortgage. the average tenant who started renting in 1968 would have paid £6,500 over the first five years in real terms, compared with £7,990 in mortgage payments. Rental costs for someone who started a tenancy in 1979 were £23,740 for the first five years, compared with £41,470 in mortgage payments.

But the pendulum swung the other way for the first time in October 1992, the month after Black Wednesday, when the pound crashed and Bank rate was cut. Since then, monthly rental payments have mostly remained higher than mortgage costs, according to Hamptons.

The average buyer who bought in 2020 and paid mortgage payments for five years would have paid £12,900 less than the average renter. “This has created a bit of a financial cliff edge between those who bought and those who didn’t, in a way which didn’t exist for older generations,” Fell said.

Source: The Sunday Times

Gen Zers, Millennials fuel PHL co-working space boom

The co-working or flexible office segment is poised for growth despite increasing return-to-office mandates.

“We expect demand for the sector to be fueled by companies that continue to employ hybrid work arrangements, multinational corporations and business process outsourcing firms requiring temporary spaces for employees, and small businesses and startups that are looking for an office or address within the central business districts,” Janlo C. De Los Reyes, head of research and strategic consulting at JLL Philippines. said.

He noted that the appeal of co-working spaces lies in their flexibility, letting companies easily scale up or down without the long-term commitments of traditional office leases.

Data from JLL Philippines showed a healthy occupancy rate of 89.6% for co-working spaces in Makati and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, two of Metro Manila’s key business districts.

Colliers Philippines has also observed strong demand driven by hybrid work setups, noting that many firms have yet to return to pre-pandemic leasing patterns.

“More companies have also been implementing 100% return to office, and this is a signal that landlords need to be more proactive in offering flexible lease terms,” Colliers said in a report.

The overall flexible workspace vacancy in Metro Manila rose to 17.5% at the end of last year from 16.7% a year earlier. However, Colliers noted that this was still a major improvement from the record 41% vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2021.

Fort Bonifacio led with the highest number of occupied co-working seats at 12,000; followed by Makati with 10,000; Quezon City with 7,000; Ortigas with 4,000; Mandaluyong with 2,000; Alabang, Muntinlupa with 1,000; and the Bay Area in Pasay City with 437, according to Colliers.

International Workplace Group Plc (IWG), a multinational office solution provider, is bullish on the Philippines’ flexible workspace market.

“The co-working space is the fastest-growing segment within commercial real estate,” IWG Philippines Country Manager Lars Wittig said. He added that the departure of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), which used to be major office lessees, has accelerated demand for flexible workspaces.

“The exit of POGOs is accelerating our network development because now, the partners feel an even greater urge to come to us to seek our partnership to be able to fulfill the demand for flexible workspace,” Mr. Wittig said.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. last year ordered a total ban on POGOs due to their reported links to organized crime including human trafficking.

IWG expects to open its 50^th location in the Philippines this year and signed its 61^st center, which will be in Makati, in March.

“With the golden era for the country, the many more good jobs being created, what you do see is that the companies continue to be rightsizing — meaning downsizing their conventional leases — which again means that the demand is gravitating over to flexible workspaces,” Mr. Wittig said.

He also said hybrid work setups have become a tool to attract talent. “Employers are now offering hybrid working to attract and retain young talent who prefers this setup instead of going to the office.”

‘CHILL MOOD’

Mr. Oreta, for his part, agrees that the younger workforce is challenging the norms of traditional office work.

“Millennials want a chill-mood kind of work,” he said. “They want to be at the beach, at the party, or wherever they want to be. They just want to do their work and chill.”

He noted that workers like him are not bound by the traditional 9-to-5 schedule. He usually stays until 2 a.m. to finish his work.

“It is nice that the conventional type of work is broken now,” he said. “Because we’re not talking about ‘this is the proper place, this is the proper thing to do.’ We are talking more of productivity.”

“We have the freedom to choose wherever we want to work, as long as your productivity is standard,” he added.

Mr. De Los Reyes said flexible workspaces are cost-effective for startups and smaller businesses, which don’t need a large office space.

Smaller players in the co-working space sector are also seeing a surge in interest, particularly from freelancers and students.

“While independent professionals still make up a big portion of our clients, we’ve also noticed a surge in small businesses and even corporate teams opting for flexible workspaces instead of traditional office leases,” Alcariza R. Peregrino, managing partner at The Hangout: Coworking Space, said.

“The demand is shifting towards spaces that are cost-efficient, collaborative and hassle-free, and that’s exactly what we offer,” she added.

The Hangout offers rates of P250 for four hours, P500 for eight hours, and P10,500 for a full month. Students can avail themselves of hourly rates as low as P70. Monthly membership for hot desks starts at P7,500 and P10,000 for fixed desks.

The facility also offers virtual office services — letting users list a business address without renting a physical desk — starting at P3,000 a month. These include mail handling, receptionist support and day passes.

During a visit to The Hangout, professionals from diverse backgrounds were seen using the space, including an English teacher conducting lessons over Zoom and corporate workers in casual attire focused on their laptops.

Amenities include fast internet, unlimited coffee, lounges, books, board games and flexible workspace areas designed to balance work and relaxation.

“We’re proud of what we’ve built here, but we’re also looking ahead,” Ms. Peregrino said. “Our vision is to expand into more key areas like Quezon City, Manila and Makati, where demand for flexible workspaces is high.”

Monthly rental rates for flexible workspaces vary depending on the district, according to Colliers. Seats cost P8,000 to P20,000 in Ortigas; P7,000 to P18,000 in Quezon City;

P7,000 to P19,000 in Alabang; P8,000 to P25,000 in Mandaluyong; P8,000 to P38,000 in Makati; P13,000 to P25,000 in Fort Bonifacio; and P15,000 to P20,000 in the Bay Area.

The rise in online jobs and remote work has also fueled demand for co-working spaces outside Metro Manila.

In Cavite, The Quiet Corner has emerged as the first co-working facility in Indang, Cavite. The Quiet Corner is the only co-working space in the town, making it a top choice for students, professionals and remote workers in the area, according to the firm.

“The demand has been strong due to the lack of similar workspaces nearby, and we continue to see consistent occupancy throughout the week,” it added.

Source: Business World