Realtors see good year ahead

By Nancy R. Cudis



IF the increasing amount of OFW remittances in the country is sustained and the local demand for housing continues, a group of real estate practitioners are expecting their industry to be performing well in 2010.

Philippine Association of Realtors Board Inc.-Cebu Realtors Board Inc. (Pareb-Cereb) president Emily Cabillada said 2009 has been a good year for the real estate industry despite the effects of the global financial crisis on some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

“In fact, 2009’s performance in terms of sales is better than that of 2008,” she said.

Sales increase

She estimated an average of 10 to 15 percent increase in sales in Cebu last year, although she said some developers doubled their sales compared to 2008.

Cabillada attributed the increase to easy payment schemes through banks and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig) and a huge number of buyers coming from the
OFW sector.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced that the money sent home by Filipinos working abroad rose to a monthly record of $1.5 billion in October 2009.

This brought the 10-month level to $14.3 billion, representing a 4.5 percent year-on-year growth.

Remittances

The BSP said that OFWs sent more money to their families whose properties were damaged by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng.

Major remittances for January to October came from the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Italy, and Germany.

Cabillada said that a lot of OFW buyers of real estate in Cebu are based in the US.

At the same time, the locals compose a good market for low-end to mid-end housing projects, she added.

“There are many people who want to invest in condominiums, for instance, because they can have them rented or use them personally. Several of our buyers for a P1.8 million to a P2.5 million condo unit are professionals working in business process outsourcing companies with a lot of disposable income,” she said.

Some of these professionals are migrants from other provinces who are looking for greener pastures here.

This, coupled with the growing population, prompted Cabillada to raise the need for more housing projects to answer the demand.

She warned buyers, though, to be careful of bogus agents, saying that buyers can easily report violations committed by a licensed agent and the Philippine Regulation Commission can impose penalties upon the implementation of the Real Estate Service Act this year.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 07, 2010.