Saturday, April 11, 2015

2 office towers to put PH in green map


ASIAN Century Center

The Asia-Pacific region is catching up in terms of “green” building initiatives. With mounting pressure from the international business community—especially from foreign investors—on local locators to offer more green buildings in the country, it is increasingly becoming relevant for developers to vie for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certification.
LEED certification is a worldwide sustainability rating system developed by the US Green Building Council.
Analysts previously predicted that the surge in the number of green buildings would support the robust growth of the country’s property sector market. And that Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations and even local firms now consider green initiatives as prerequisites in their day-to-day maintenance and operations.
Inquirer Property previously quoted Rick Santos, CBRE Philippines chair and CEO, as saying that “through our global networks and resources, we have been strengthening the drive toward sustainable development which, as pointed out in several studies, could also benefit not only developers and the environment but also end-users—tenants, employees and residents—in the long run.”
Century Properties has been granted the LEED certification by the US Green Building Council for its Fort Bonifacio office tower Asian Century Center. Its Century Spire Office in Makati, meanwhile, is vying for a LEED seal.
Commitment
In a statement sent to the Inquirer, Century Properties noted: “The LEED certification affirms our commitment to adopt green building strategies and offer long-term benefits of energy and resources efficiency to the end users of our office developments. We will wear the logo proudly.”
The LEED-certified level covers a host of sustainable and energy-saving practices in the construction of the tower, including site sustainability, access to alternative public transportation, development density and community connectivity, parking capacity for alternative transportation and access to low-emitting and fuel-efficient alternative transportation.
Also included are standards for water efficiency such as water use reduction; materials and sources management such as construction waste management, use of recycled content and regional materials; indoor environmental quality such as the use of low-emitting adhesives and sealants, paints and coatings, indoor chemical and pollutant source control, thermal comfort control and the maximization of daylight.
The office tower has almost 26,000 square meters of leasable office space and is under construction on a lot circled by 27th Street, 3rd and 4th Avenues in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Also a collaboration with the Columbian Group of Companies of Jose Ch. Alvarez, it will house premium car brand BMW’s headquarters as well as its largest showroom in the country.
Its key features are a sky bar, a café, conference facilities and recreational amenities. The office tower will also introduce Skycourts with gardens on the 12th and 19th levels.
Bearing a distinctly modern design, the Asian Century Center will have features that specifically cater to a 24-hour working schedule as it targets corporate and business process outsourcing firms as future locators.
Diversification
Asian Century Center is Century Properties’ third project in Fort Bonifacio, and is in line with the company’s diversification strategy as it ventures into the commercial leasing business.
A LEED green building certification has also been applied for the Century Spire tower, making possible integrated sustainable strategies to lessen waste and energy costs for office


CENTURY Spire
locators.
The mixed-use building located at Century City on Kalayaan Avenue, Makati, is adding a minimum of 23,000 sq m of office space to the market, with single-unit office spaces ranging from 50 to 90 sq m. Units may be combined to form up to an entire floor of office space.
The company said the units will be sold to end-users seeking a prime location for their business, as well as to those seeking to lease out their purchased units upon completion. Current Makati rental rates for prime office is approximately P900 to P1,300 per month.
Aside from its strategic Makati location, Century Spire features a groundbreaking architectural design by the renowned New York Ground Zero masterplan architect Daniel Libeskind, making it ultra-distinct and prestigious from peer structures. Armani Casa is designing the Spire Office lobby.
Two of the tower’s floors will be dedicated to retail space for select locators, while its auditorium, concept food hall and fine-dining restaurant will all be of premium design. The building will also have separate entrance driveways and lobbies for office tenants and residents, for their convenience and privacy.
Accredited office space tenants will also enjoy fiscal and nonfiscal incentives as the building is accredited by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.
“Century Spire Office is the only new prime property within Makati’s business district. Given all the indicators we are positive that this will be well received by the market, and that the robust economy will continue to expand the office sector in the coming years,” said Marco R. Antonio, chief operating officer of Century Properties.
Riding the office boom
Century Properties said it is expanding its commercial assets on the back of a strong economy that fuels the demand for office space, especially for the sectors of business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT.
Citing a Colliers report from 2014, Century confirms the strong demand for office space in Makati, with vacancy rates dropping to 1.9 percent because of demand from the “BPO and traditional office takers.”
On a broader spectrum, the report also added global outsourcing advisory firm Tholons’ recent announcement that the BPO industry “can become a $48-billion industry by 2020.”
A 6.4-percent GDP growth rate and another investment grade rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s Financial Services also boosted the Philippines’ attractiveness to foreign investment, drawing more international firms to capitalize in the country’s intelligent workforce.
As more investments are expected to pour into the country, chiefly in the central business district of Makati and Fort Bonifacio, Century said it is positive about the prospects of its planned commercial space portfolio, with Century Spire offices as the newest project in addition to its Asian Century Center office building in Fort Bonifacio, where Century Properties has 27,000 sq m; and Forbes Media Tower in Makati. In December 2014, the company also started the turnover of Centuria Medical Makati, an outpatient IT-medical building with close to 700 doctors’ clinics.


Cebu City Devt Council approves P3.5B worth of infra projects for implementation this year

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CEBU CITY—The Cebu City Development Council (CCDC) infrastructure committee has approved some P3.5 billion worth of infrastructure projects proposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)-Cebu City Engineering District for 2015.

The projects include the rehabilitation of Colon Street for P120 million and the widening of Archbishop Reyes Avenue for P128 million.
Also included are the widening of the Bacayan-Pit-os Road for P170 million; and the construction of a flood-mitigation structure along Estero Parian on Colon Street and on Jakosalem Street from Imus Road to Parian Creek at P160 million each.
The DPWH also plans to construct an engineering district building in Barangay Tinago for P30 million and a multipurpose building inside the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center compound in Barangay Sambag II for P25 million.
Projects for the Cebu City south district, on the other hand, include the road right-of-way acquisition in Barangay Basak San Nicolas and the construction of a “depressed intersection” at the N. Bacalso Avenue-F. Llamas Street junction, totaling P400 million.
Some P400 million was proposed to widen the city’s natural waterways and P120 million for dredging of Kinalumsan River and rip-rap installation on its banks.
Other projects include the widening of C. Padilla Street from the Carlock Street intersection to the South Road Properties Access Road for P267 million, the widening of the access road from the V. Rama Avenue junction in Barangay Guadalupe to Doña Modesta Gaisano Street in Barangay Lahug for P210 million, and the stretch of N. Bacalso Avenue, from Santo Tomas de Villanueva parish church to the Bulacao Bridge for P300 million.
All these projects were endorsed to the CCDC full council for its approval.
Upon approval, the proposal would be endorsed to the Cebu City Council, before endorsing it to the Regional Development Council 7, which would either turn it down or endorse it to the national government for funding.
Source : http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/cebu-city-devt-council-approves-p3-5b-worth-of-infra-projects-for-implementation-this-year/

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Lending a hand: Real-estate financing as a way to promote property ownership


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In Photo: “The financing policies are there for a reason: to ensure stability in the market and to protect the interests of borrowers, financial institutions and the industry as a whole,” said Gigi Pio de Roda, head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management for HSBC Philippines. “Our aim is to understand and meet the needs of our clients while complying with these policies, laws and regulations.”
column-amor maclangOWNING a real-estate property nowadays has become a lot easier to jump-start and sustain as customers enjoy a greater freedom and flexibility in terms of pursuing their desired investments.
Developers and their financial partners—the government and private institutions, alike—have created an investor- and credit-friendly environment where young professionals can establish a strong, stable financial identity. This, in turn, helps them focus their assets into valuable endeavors such as purchasing  or investing in real-estate properties.
Our economy was hardened by the Asian economic crisis at the right time, and even Pag-ibig has forced developers to be more creative, more flexible in terms of drawing up financing schemes for its clientele. This, too, has become very instrumental in helping developers become more creative and more innovative in terms of the marketing strategies that they employ to sustain the interest of local buyers.
With this, it now appears that local real-estate companies and buyers have evolved to become more financing-sensitive and more economically resilient to stay relevant in today’s market.
 Helping build capacity for buyers
“The robust economic growth, which the Philippines continues to experience, is keeping the real-estate market buoyant. In particular, the OFW [overseas Filipino worker] market—increasingly the white-collar work force—and the business-process outsourcing segment are driving strong demand for housing whether it be vertical [condominiums] or horizontal [house and lots],” said Gigi Pio de Roda, head of Retail Banking and Wealth Management for HSBC Philippines.” However, getting a new property entails out of pocket expenses in addition to significant monthly payments if you do not buy the property outright.”
Buying a house and taking out a mortgage are some of the biggest and most critical financial decisions that most young professionals are seeing themselves taking nowadays, de Roda added. While the entire real-estate sector, including support groups that help build capacity for buyers, are continuing to grow at a more defined pace, de Roda said that it is highly important to ensure that people who are taking out a loan can evidence true capacity to pay, rather than lending on the strength of the security alone.
“This is exactly the reason we, as a company, are bent on making sure our customers take on solutions that match their needs and risk appetite and are able to service their loans while meeting their other financial,” de Roda said. “As a company, we believe in fulfilling our customer’s hopes and dreams, and as such, we know that a home purchase can be one of the biggest investment decisions any person can make in his or her lifetime.”
 Preparation is key
For companies like HSBC, sustaining the interest of the buyers and helping them become more open to making key investments is a critical part of the entire marketing process.
“The [financing] policies are there for a reason: to ensure stability in the market and to protect the interests of borrowers, financial institutions and the industry as a whole. Our aim is to understand and meet the needs of our clients while complying with these policies, laws and regulations,” de Roda explained.
This commitment is reflected by HSBC’s Home Loan packages, for example. “The objective of this package is to ‘lighten your loan’ and focus on affordability with additional fee waivers to make it easy on the family’s household finances,” de Roda shared. “Apart from this, HSBC Advance and HSBC Premier customers also get preferential pricing when the home loan is due for repricing.”
Aside from this, another critical factor that plays a big role in helping buyers pursue an educated decision is a healthy relationship with a financial manager or banker who can provide key insights about the entire investment climate, strategy and overall investment outlook.
“Preparation is key when looking for a home loan and speaking to banks. One has to have a clear idea of the purpose of the purchase: Is it for investment, an upgrade, or a new home? Or are they looking to refinance an existing home loan?” de Roda added. “Also, people looking to buy properties must first think about their ideal type of purchase—apartment, condominium, or house and lot—and the location: Is the market saturated or is there still potential growth in the area?”
“Consider affordability and ask themselves if they can take out a loan and continue to handle overall finances comfortably. This includes being aware of miscellaneous costs such as taxes, stamp duty, among others, and other requirements to ensure their protection, such as insurance.”
Indeed, property investments should always be considered as a critical step that will help sustain the momentum of one’s financial progress. “We believe in fulfilling our customer’s hopes and dreams, and as such, we know that a home purchase can be one of the biggest investment decisions any person can make in his or her lifetime,” de Roda concluded. “We intend to help our clients meet their needs and goals by providing the right solutions that suit their preferences, as well as the ideal experience to make property investment a very rewarding endeavor.”

/ source http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/lending-a-hand-real-estate-financing-as-a-way-to-promote-property-ownership/ 


No more second chances for tax cheats


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THE Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has expanded the list of certain acts by taxpayers that may no longer be subject to compromise because these acts are commonly resorted to by taxpayers as means of tax evasion.
Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares has issued Revenue Memorandum Order  (RMO) 7-2015 prescribing a uniform schedule of compromise penalties to be imposed on erring taxpayers. 
The new memorandum order also deleted certain acts that may be subject to compromise because these acts are commonly resorted to by taxpayers as means of tax evasion.
Under Section 204 of the National Internal Revenue Code, tax cases, including all criminal violations, may be compromised except those criminal cases already filed in court or those involving fraud.
The new RMO 7-2015 supersedes RMO 19-2007 and imposes in its Annex A the uniform schedule of compromise penalties to be imposed on certain violations of the Tax Code.
The amendments include the prohibition for certain acts to be compromised for the second time, such as the failure or refusal to issue receipts or sales commercial invoices, or for the issuance of receipts that do not truly reflect the information that should be contained therein. Under the new rules, these violations may be compromised for the first offense but not for subsequent violations.
The new memorandum order also provides that failure for two consecutive years to file the Annual Alpha List of Payees and/or Alpha List of Employees from whom taxes were withheld shall be considered as willful failure to comply with such requirements, which implies fraud, and, therefore cannot be compromised.
Other violations that can only be compromised for the first offense include violations of the internal revenue stamp-tax provisions like the giving away or accepting, or using containers of liquor on which the stamps are not completely destroyed, and the possessing without express authority from the BIR any dye for printing or making stamps.
The violations regarding the removal of articles subject to excise tax, such as unlawful possession of locally manufactured articles and unlawful removal of untaxed articles from the place of production, shall also be compromised only for the first offense, and subsequent violations shall no longer be allowed to be compromised.

Real-estate lending still growing


No matter the frequent caveat on the property sector imminently bursting a supposed bubble, the various banks look at the real-estate industry with favor and extended loans totaling P1.22 trillion in the final three months of 2014.
This was 5.4 percent higher than the P1.159 trillion in the banks’ real-estate exposures (REEs) reported a quarter earlier.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas attributed the rise of the banks’ REE to sustained lending to the property sector. In particular, real-estate loans of the banks increased by 6.8 percent to P1.043 trillion at end-2014.
The loans represent 85.4 percent of the banks’ exposure to the real-estate sector. The other 14.6 percent of the banks’ REE, meanwhile, pertain to the banks’ investment in real-estate securities.
Sixty percent of the real-estate loans during the period were extended to land developers, construction firms and other corporate entities.
The remaining 40 percent went to individual households. The banks’ investments in real-estate securities, meanwhile, decreased by 2.1 percent to P178 billion at end-December 2014.
“The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regularly assesses the quality of banks’ REEs as part of its mandate to foster the strength of individual banks, as well as the systemic stability of the Philippine banking industry,” the central bank said.
It also said the banks remain protected from risks in lending to the real-estate sector on the basis of the ratio of nonperforming real-estate loans of the universal, commercial and thrift banks actually following a downtrend last year.
At end-2014, the banks’ non-performing real-estate loans equal 2.47 percent of the total real-estate loans. This was lower than the 2.8 percent ratio at end-2013.
This was also the lowest nonperforming real-estate loan ratio since December 2012.
Bianca Cuaresma


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