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| Ayala's Rex Mendoza (left) says now is the time to buy a prime property in Metro Manila |
Close on the heels of Manila being named as the hottest market worldwide for prime residential properties, executives of the Philippines’ biggest property developer, Ayala Land Inc., came to Hong Kong to tell would-be investors why they should head for the country now.
“This is a call for you to make that investment now,” said Rex Mendoza, a director of Ayala Land, during a talk on Thursday night at Novotel in Wan Chai.
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Mendoza was speaking to a group of Ayala agents and local residents who had expressed interest in buying property in the Philippines, in the wake of a report by property consultancy Knight Frank which showed that prices of prime properties in Manila gained 21.2 percent in the past year.
This put the Philippine capital on top of the list of major cities abroad in terms of price appreciation for the third quarter of the year, outperforming Dubai, where the average yield was 15.9 percent, and Shanghai, with 10.4 percent.
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Hong Kong with its overheated market fell to the 36th slot, from the 35th place in the previous quarter.
Mendoza said that given the Philippines’ strong fundamentals, investors are likely to gain even more if they put their money in the country. As it is, the Philippines is already among the world’s fastest growing economies, and is even forecast by HSBC to become the 16th largest economy by 2050.
Even in the worst of times such as the pandemic, property prices in the Philippines did not plunge, said Mendoza.
“As long as the Philippines manages to address its problems with infrastructure it should do even better,” he added.
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Right now, he said several major infrastructure projects being carried out in the Philippines have already cut down travel times in many places, including the highways linking the regions of Bicol to Ilocos, and another, between Bataan in the north to Cavite in the south.
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| Why invest in properties, Mendoza asks with this slide |
There are other factors that augur well for keeping the economy robust, such as the country’s booming tourism sector, the ever-reliable remittances from overseas Filipino workers that should bring in $37.5 billion this year, and a nearly equal yield of $35 billion from the business product outsourcing (BPO) industry.
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In addition, said Mendoza, the Philippines is in a demographic “sweet spot” because of its young population, meaning those aged 15 years old and below comprise 30% of the total number of residents while those aged 65 years old and above make up less than 15%.
In comparison, many other places in Asia have a rapidly ageing population, leading to lower productivity. In Japan and Hong Kong for example, the number of elderly residents comprise about a third of the total population.
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To earn the promised return, however, one needs to invest in Philippine properties that cost around HK$5 million, such as two new developments unveiled by Ronald Galura for Alveo, Ayala’s second most expensive brand.
The introductory price for a three-bedroom condominium measuring between 124 and 126 square feet in Astela in Circuit Makati and Lattice in Parklinks, Pasig City could set a person back by $5.5 million and $4.96 million respectively.
But considering that a small one-bedroom flat in a not-so prestigious address in Hong Kong could already cost this much, it is likely there would be quite a number of takers here, especially among those keen to make a profit after the havoc wrought by the pandemic.
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| PADALA NA! |
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