Developers urged to build more

CEBU, Philippines - Because of the good market appetite for real estate properties in Cebu, brokers are urging developers to build more quality, and "exactly-priced" condominium units.

"There are a lot of buyers, but the problem now in Cebu is running out of condominium inventories," said Philippine Allied Chamber of Real Estate Brokers and Licensed Salesman (PhilAcre) president Anthony Leuterio.

While local developers have seemingly exhausted their resources to build more and catch up to the strong market current, Leuterio said more foreign developers are now starting to put their money in the real estate development in Cebu.

Leuterio, who owns a real estate brokerage company with over 2,000 licensed brokers and agents, said that aside from the OFWs, Cebu now also is gaining attention from other foreign nationals for condominium investments.

He mentioned that three Korean and two Japanese investors are coming to Cebu to build medium or high-rise buildings to serve their respective markets, in partnership with local businessmen here.

"They (foreign-developers) are coming in to serve the demand from their own respective countries," said Leuterio.

The thick demand now is for units' that are exactly-priced according to thr market value, and those that ranged from P60 thousand to P75 thousand per square-meter.

Aside from Japanese and Koreans, other nationalities such as those from United States, Australia, and Europe are few of the strongest market for condominium products in Cebu.

"Cebu, being a tourism and business destination, is becoming much more attractive to foreigners. I encourage local developers to build more, " said Leuterio in an interview.

Although, existing developers are also smarting each other in terms of catching the attention of buyers, Leuterio warned that price points is also very important. Developers have to be sensitive of the market assessment value, in order to grab the opportunity to feed the "hungry" market.

Megaworld Corporation sales manager Sunshine Roxas confirmed Leuterio's observation, saying the market now is at its peak, and attractive offers and quality projects are leading the top choices of buyers.

According to Roxas, both foreign and local buyers are now actively grabbing the chance to buy good condo units for personal use (second-home), and for investment purposes.

Megaworld for instance, which is now building a multi-billion-peso township project in Mactan, is accelerating the completion of its condominium projects to accommodate the active demand from the market.

There are now three kinds of real estate buyers--those the buy for personal use (end-users) and those who buy one or more units for investment (for rental), and the "flippers" who buy condos or real estate properties at the early time of development and sells them when the value shoots up in the next couple of years. (FREEMAN)