Property sector posts 18.6% growth
in Q1

11 June 2007 – The bullish property sector continues to soar, posting an 18.6% year-on-year growth in the first quarter. The gross value added of real estate in the first quarter amounted to P16 billion, reflecting the continuing expansion of the industry. Gross value added refers to services produced through buying, selling, leasing, or renting property.

The brisk performance of the sector is evident in the expansion of existing malls and shopping centers, as well as in the increase in demand for office space, mostly from business process outsourcing companies. Also contributing to the sector’s growth is the high demand for subdivision lots and high-rise condominium units, which is being fueled by the real estate investments of overseas Filipino workers and their families.

The property sector grew 17.1% year-on-year in 2006, its best performance since 1967. The industry grew 15.4% in 2005 and 16.4% in 2004. The sector’s gross value added for 2006 reached P14.3 billion.

Real estate revenues jump 40% in
Q4 2006

27 April 2007 – Gross revenues of the real estate sector in the last quarter of 2006 grew 39.9% from the same period in 2005. For fifteen consecutive quarters since the second quarter of 2003, the property sector has posted double-digit growth in gross revenues.

The National Statistical Coordination Board, the agency monitoring the development of all industries, noted that the property sector has been recording the most rapid growth in revenues among the various industries.

The finance sector grew 17.3%, while the trade sector expanded 12.3%. Revenues from private services went up 10.6%, while manufacturing and the transportation and communication sector grew 8.5% and 8.4%, respectively.

Less building permits issued
in Q2 2006

26 January 2007 – In the second quarter of 2006, 26,563 building permits were issued, a 4.4% decrease from the same quarter in 2005. Residential permits issued decreased 7.6% to 17,904, while permits for additions, alterations, and repairs fell 19.2% to 4,364. However, nonresidential permits rose dramatically to 4,295, 43.3% higher than in the same period in 2005.

Meanwhile, the total value of construction rose 16.3% to P31.4 billion. This was driven mainly by significant leaps in the value of nonresidential construction, as well as nonresidential additions, alterations, and repairs. Nonresidential construction zoomed 47.2% to P15.6 billion, while additions, alterations, and repairs shot up 269.2% to P9.6 billion. On the other hand, the value of residential construction fell slightly by 3.6% to P13.3 billion.

Land values in business districts
seen to rise

10 August 2004 – Colliers International, a multinational property consultancy firm, says prices of land in Makati and Ortigas – two of the country’s top central business districts (CBD) – are expected to rise by around 13% in the next 12 months.

This is due to the increasing demand for office space, which has eaten up vacancies in the CBDs. This, in turn, was largely brought about by expansion of the local call center industry in the past months.

According to Colliers, land values in the Makati CBD went up one percent in the second quarter of the year to an average of P176,388 per square meter compared to its level in the first quarter. Land values in Ortigas, likewise went up by the same range to an average of P79,825 per square meter.

Land values to recover in 2004

March 8, 2004 -- Land values in Metro Manila remained flat throughout 2003, but will start to appreciate within the year. The recovery in 2004, according to Colliers International in its January 2004 property report, will be supported by strengthening rents due to falling vacancies.

At P171,250 per square meter, land values in the Makati Central Business District (CBD) was static quarter-on-quarter in October to December last year, more than 60% down from their peak in 1997. Land values at the Ortigas CBD also remain at an average of P77,500 per square meter.

Colliers is forecasting that land values in Makati and Ortigas will post a 10% year-on-year recovery. "Prime sites in the Makati CBC [are] forecasted at a value of P188,375 per square meter while Ortigas developable plots could escalate to P85,553 per square meter by the end of 2004," the report said.