By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated June 24, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - SM Development Corp. (SMDC), the residential builder of the SM Group, is planning to develop five more affordable housing projects as it seeks to ramp up its expansion and make its presence felt in this highly unmet segment of the property market.
Henry Sy Jr., vice-chairman and chief executive of SMDC, said the company is looking to build projects under its affordable housing brand, MyPlace, in Fairview and other sites in Quezon City. “We plan to build in locations where there is an SM mall or hypermart,” he said.
“The launch of new projects would depend on how well our first project is going to be received. But so far we’ve been receiving very encouraging feedback from the public,” Sy said.
SMDC launched Tuesday its maiden project under the MyPlace brand – My Place South Triangle – four condominium towers offering a total of 3,000 units with sizes ranging from 20 square meters to 40 sqm. Unit prices start at P1 million each.
Around P2 billion has been earmarked for the project’s construction, later this year. The first phase is slated to be completed in the first half of 2013.
Sy said the company is also looking at acquiring properties in Cebu and Davao to further expand its reach and tap a larger investor base, particularly overseas Filipino workers. “We want to go regional and hope to start construction early next year. We can’t say yet whether these properties will be done under the MyPlace brand,” he pointed out.
SMDC has 12 ongoing residential projects, of which 11 are in key areas within Metro Manila, and one in the mountain resort city of Tagaytay.
For this year, SMDC is launching four new projects which will entail between P4 billion and P8 billion in funding requirements. These new projects are located in various strategic sites in Taft Avenue in Manila, Ortigas in Pasig City, and Quezon City.
SMDC’s other ongoing projects are Chateau Elysee, a mid-rise condominium project in Parañaque City which has completed five of its six clusters; Berkeley Residences in Katipunan Road, Quezon City ( 63 percent complete); Grass Residences beside SM City North Edsa, which is (58 percent complete with its Tower 1); Sea Residences near the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City (38 percent complete with Phase 1); and Field Residences in Sucat, Parañaque, ( 95 percent complete with its Tower 1).
Given the strong sales take-up, SMDC said it expects its net income to grow between 30-50 percent every year in the next five years.
SMDC posted a net income of P1.8 billion in 2009, more than 31 times the P56.8 million reported in 2008. Of the total, net income from real estate operations amounted to P1.5 billion, up 36 percent from P1.1 billion.
Last December, the company launched four big projects – Jazz Residences near Jupiter Road in Makati; Sun Residences beside the Mabuhay (formerly Welcome) Rotonda near the Quezon Avenue boundary of Quezon City and Manila;Wind Residences along the Emilio Aguinaldo Highway in Tagaytay City; and Light Residences near Pioneer St. in Mandaluyong City.
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