CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu property sector stands to witness the demand resurgence for house and lot, lot-only residential units starting this year, as Filipinos are now more confident to acquire properties.
Property analysts at Colliers Philippines expect developers to be sensitive to this development, although demand for vertical residential is also seen to sustain.
During the Visayas and Mindanao Property Market Briefing held yesterday, Colliers Philippines head for research Joey Roi Bondoc, said the growth for real estate industry in Cebu and some other areas in Visayas and Mindanao too, is largely anchored on the surprising shift of consumers’ interest to splurge on house and lot or lot-only buying spree post pandemic.
Cebu in particular, property shoppers are looking at elegantly designed horizontal developments, particular in the mountain area in Cebu, and leisure sites like Mactan Island, among others, explained Karla Domingo, Colliers Philippines, director for consultancy services.
However, Bondoc warned that attractiveness of house and lot units depend largely on developers’ payment term packages. Affordability still plays a vital role even the interest of horizontal development is higher now.
While most of Cebu’s house and lot and lot only inventories fall under high-end category, developers are also urged to build pocket subdivisions near business districts, not too far away from urban centers, Bondoc further explained in an interview.
Large market segment in the horizontal residential developments are those within the P1.5 million to P6 million price range. While there is a stable market for high-end residential properties, this segment remains small to be shared by property builders within Metro Cebu, Bondoc added.
Currently, Cebu has 21,060 house and lot units stock. This year, another 410 units will be added to the inventory.
Last year, Cebu saw a 48 percent improvement in the house and lot take up with a total of 1,490 house and lot units were sold during the year.
Top selling segment is the middle-income range which accounts for 42 percent of the total sales profile.
Colliers indicated that the Belmont Group developed Aberdeen Place Cebu in Mandaue City is so far the most expensive house and lot with average unit costing P34 million.
In the lot only category, Cebu has a total stock of 8,500 units, with an additional for sale 500 lot-only properties to be added this year.
Last year, 400 lot-only properties were sold, led by the luxury segment which accounts of 63 percent.
Monterrazas de Cebu Peaks is Cebu’s most expensive lot-only property available in the market today with average cost of P22.6 million.
Bondoc said the robust economic forecast and performance of the Philippines, increasing figures in remittances, and heightened confidence of the market to invest in good properties, will sustain the strong demand momentum of horizontal residential projects even beyond 2022.