CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — Sales in mid- to upscale projects in Northern Mindanao have decreased as families of overseas Filipino workers delayed purchases of new units in recent months.
Rodolfo L. Meñes, vice-president and general manager for Pueblo de Oro Development Corp., said that with the softening of the dollar since last year, sales have slightly decreased. Pueblo de Oro is a major developer of housing projects in the middle to upscale categories.
Many residents in nearby cities and those even as far as Bukidnon, Agusan del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur have been investing in real properties, especially in projects geared for upper-income segment of the region’s population. These involve house-and-lot packages from as low as P1 million to a couple of millions.
Mr. Meñes said that while there are problems in the subprime market in the US, government data showed that in February, remittance levels continued to rise. "There was a shift in the quality of overseas workers: better working force with increased salaries," said Mr. Meñes.
He said that in regional areas, however, families of overseas workers maybe delaying their decisions to purchase new homes in upscale residential areas. Mr. Meñes noted that the level of development of this city’s property market is still low compared with major urban centers. "In Metro Manila, the property sector is very competitive since there are different types of residential packages. There are mid-rise to high-rise buildings," Mr. Meñes explained.
Pag-IBIG Fund’s Cagayan de Oro branch manager Fermin A. Sta. Teresa, Jr. said that the region’s housing market remains the typical single-detached bungalow homes, unlike in more developed cities which are now going into vertical residential projects. The bigger demand based on affordability is on socialized housing, or projects that are heavily dependent government loan assistance.
"At present, a 26-square meter floor area is already acceptable and applicable to meet the needs of our members," said Mr. Sta. Teresa in a separate interview.
This city has the biggest number of approved housing loans in Northern Mindanao, he said.
Last year, Pag-IBIG Fund approved for funding 1,855 housing units in this city. In Zamboanga City, only 960 housing units were approved, while Butuan City in Agusan del Norte had 753, and Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur has 606 housing units.
"For this year, we are targeting 2,151 housing units for this city which will total P780 million," said Mr. Sta. Teresa.
Lolit Alon, executive vice-president for local firm JCA Realty Corp. said it is good for the National Government to promote affordable housing and lowering the interest rates for such projects through Pag-ibig Fund.
Ms. Alon said that the local market is growing since housing units introduced by local firms have become more affordable.
"Before, 80% of our buyers were dollar-earners while only 20% were local buyers. This year, we are expecting that the local market will grow by 50%," said Ms. Alon.
She recalled that as the dollar weakened since last year, there was a slowdown in their sales for the first quarter of this year.
"Now, the prospective homeowners have already adjusted," said Ms. Alon.
JCA Realty Corp. develops residential projects, ranging from upscale to socialized housing subdivisions.
"The city’s property industry will not likely be affected by [the slowdown in the US economy]. There is a bigger chance for increase of sales for this year especially that our skilled professionals are now deployed in Europe and the Middle East and our local professionals here are also investing in socialized housing projects," said Ms. Alon.
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