Vol. XXI, No. 189 [ Business World Online ]
Monday, April 28, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
DAVAO CITY — Filipinos workers abroad from this city are slowly feeling the pinch of a strong peso and a weakened US economy, property players said.
Allan J. Barquilla, branch manager of Filinvest Land, Inc. said the market for Filipinos overseas accounted for only 30% of first quarter sales for the company, compared with 70% a year earlier.
Warphy C. Sarande, Davao Association of Real Estate Practitioners president, cited the same pattern for other realty firms here, saying some of his clients have complained about the dollar’s weakness against the peso. "They complained that it will take them a longer time to buy their dream house because the peso has strengthened," Mr. Sarande said in an interview.
One client, a nurse working in Sydney, Australia told him that she would postpone her plan to buy a new house. Mr. Sarande said the client had told him last year to look for a not-so-expensive house and lot package so she could relocate her family now living in a depressed area in the city. "She now believes it will take her much longer to buy the house because the value of the [house-and-lot package she wants] has risen [due to the weak dollar]," he said.
But Mr. Sarande is optimistic that the market would pick up towards the end of the year, as the US economy rebounds in the second half. "[The property market revival] is expected unless the dollar continues to sink," he added.
The optimism was shared by Ana Marie T. Peters, Filinvest Land, Inc. sales team head, who said some Filipino workers abroad have started inquiring as they anticipate better days by yearend. She said some of these workers have expressed interest in buying high-end properties. "They will again be active," she said, noting that the aggressiveness would return if the peso starts to depreciate again or the US economy picking up. Some of the prospective buyers are nurses working in the US and Europe.
She said some Filipinos who have married foreigners, are the ones investing in properties now. "Some of these people are looking for retirement places," she said. Geraldine C. de Gorostiza, a Filinvest Land manager, said some of the 80 lots in the firm’s high-end project in Samal, had been bought by foreigners with Filipina wives. — Carmelito Q. Francisco
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