Cebu ‘becoming more attractive’

By Mia A. Aznar

Monday, July 11, 2011More Sections

Danny Antonio of Filinvest Land Inc. (FLI) said OFWs wanting to invest and seeking to build homes for their families are one of the biggest sources of revenues for the real estate industry.WITH the number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) continuing to increase, those in the real estate industry feel that their sector will continue to grow.

In a recent forum on emerging industries, Antonio said that aside from housing projects, many real estate developers are now building industrial structures, with locators sprouting all over the country.

Antonio said that from a developer’s perspective, Cebu is becoming a more attractive location than Manila, with more affordable undeveloped lands.

However, aside from affordability, Antonio said Cebu lacks some items that make Manila attractive to project developers.

He said Cebu needs faster transportation networks, compared to Manila, which has mass and light rail transits, and access to undeveloped lands by way of skyways and expressways.

He also noted that while there are huge tracts of undeveloped land, developers are not confident about the availability of interconnections, infrastructure and utility capabilities in the outskirts of the city.

However, he assured that Cebu scores high on affordability, noting that properties are still reasonably-priced compared to Manila’s rates.

He added that real estate developers make money at the time of acquisition of land, and not when the property is sold.

For Cebu, he noted the industry’s sources of revenue are OFW remittances and business process outsourcing companies requiring office spaces.

He added that Cebu is “underperforming” and hopes it will “participate more.”

He believes trends in Manila will also sell in Cebu such as mixed-use projects, commercial play in vertical projects, lifestyle-oriented features, entertainment cities with casino complexes, community malls, the expansion of regional malls and the introduction of international brands.

Antonio said there are many opportunities in Cebu, with tourism, information technology and BPO activities on the rise.

He also said the escalating migration of people and domestic tourism from surrounding regions will follow suit if Cebu continues to improve its entertainment facilities. He said it will attract more business travelers if they find many business opportunities here.

Antonio said there could be many possibilities for the western part of Cebu if only easier access and the completion of utilities to these parts are accomplished.

“The other side looks interesting,” he said, although he admitted that topographic limitations would make development costs higher.

Antonio believes there’s a need for more private-public partnership cooperation for infrastructure and utilities and more laws granting incentives for those who pioneer projects.

He also said a plan connecting the city to the province should be in place.

For any inquiries about Cebu Projects, please call us at (032) 3181589; 09228236123.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 11, 2011.