Real estate bounces back despite pandemic

CEBU, Philippines —  While many industries are still reeling from the debilitating impact of the pandemic, real estate is making a good recovery from the health crisis, said the President and CEO of the country’s biggest realty firm, Anthony Leuterio.

Leuterio has attributed this to the regained confidence of investors for solid assets.

“This pandemic has brought many realizations to the investing public that real estate is not only the safest way to put their money but also for long-term security and we are happy that they did not only make the right choice but also for choosing the right partners like Filipino Homes in offering the most suitable real estate investment for them and we are humbled by such show of trust to us,” said Leuterio in a statement.

According to the president of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines (Rebap-Dumaguete), Melve Sadang, Filipino Homes is one of the organizations that contribute greatly to the recovery of the real estate industry.

“A lot can be said about what Filipino Homes has done to the property sector and one of them is how they have managed to revive the confidence property buyers to invest in the Philippines which I think it has something to do with the way they educate people on the importance of investing specially in a crisis situation like we have now,” Sadang said.

Sadang added that if it were not for them, many would have lost their jobs especially those in real estate construction or building.

As one of the brokers of Filipino Homes, Azela Honor has been able to provide livelihood to her salespeople in this time of pandemic.

“During the early months of the pandemic, we thought it was like doomsday for us. We were very concerned of our people, our buyers and our company – it looked so uncertain at the time but Boss Ton, Anthony Leuterio, was the light when all lights were out. He gave us hope,” Honor said.

She said that Leuterio has been meeting them via Zoom almost everyday to discuss plans for the pandemic and those inputs really made a difference in keeping their morale up and in winning their buyers back.

“We are happy to say that we are not as affected as the other professions that we are humbled by the fact that we still are the most awarded and the number one realty in the country for achieving our sales target amidst this crisis,” she further said.

Marose Yulo, vice president for sales at Cebu Landmasters Inc, the first homegrown publicly-listed real estate developer in Cebu, hails Filipino Homes for its outstanding contribution to their being number one real estate in the Visayas and Mindanao despite the onslaught of the public health debacle.

“Initially, we felt very apprehensive about the real estate situation thinking about the difficult adjustments to be made. But with our collaboration with Filipino Homes at the start of the pandemic it was like having two skippers on a boat in a wild ocean and we salute the teamwork we have because it kept us afloat fairly well up to this moment even when the sea is rough,” said Yulo.