[ manilastandardtoday.com ] June 25, 2009
By Jenniffer B. Austria
Ayala Land Inc. said yesterday it is starting to see the recovery of the high-end property market as reflected by a resurgence in reservation sales from March to May.
Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino in a briefing attributed the recovery of the high-end market to strong sales from local buyers.
“This is a case where good domestic market is the one helping push things along. The slowdown in the remittance has more than made up for by the domestic market,” Aquino said.
Figures showed that reservations sales of Ayala Land Premier, the company catering to the high-end market, rose 52 percent in March, 7 percent in April and 52 percent in May. Reservation sales in June are expected to approximate the growth in May.
“It was really the high-end market that was affected by the global financial crisis. But what we are seeing now is that high-end market is on the upswing. Over the last four months, we see positive trend in terms of sales for the high-end segment,” Aquino said.
Aquino hopes that the trend will continue in the second half of the year barring further turmoil in the global markets.
“The trendline is good and, of course, everything is premised there will be no further stressed on the global side. There is really nothing wrong on the domestic front. We continue to be fairly good,” Aquino said.
Sales to migrant Filipino workers remained weak as the bulk of the company’s sales of high-end projects come from United States, which has been badly hit by the financial crisis.
From a high of 30 percent, sales of Ayala Land Premier projects from migrant workers now account only for 10 percent to 15 percent.
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