Posted on 09:14 PM, December 16, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
PROPERTY sales of Gotianun-led Filinvest Land, Inc. surged by almost half in the eleven months that ended in November, the company told the local bourse yesterday.
Brisk demand from mid-rise buildings for the middle-income market drove sales for the period.
“Sales take-up for the period January to November 2010 reached P8.9 billion, 48% more than the P6 billion generated during the same period in 2009,” the company said in a disclosure.
“Sales take-up for the eleven-month period already surpassed 2009’s full year take-up of P7 billion by 27%,” it added.
Filinvest Land said all offerings -- from socialized housing, “affordable” housing, middle-income housing, to high-end projects -- recorded higher sales. “But the company’s mid-rise buildings, which fall under middle-income housing, contributed the most to the growth,” the property developer said.
Medium-rise projects are inner city developments with clustered five-storey buildings.
Filinvest Land has five medium-rise projects under the “Oasis” brand: One Oasis Ortigas, Bali Oasis Marcos Highway, Maui Oasis Sta. Mesa, Sorrento Oasis Pasig, and Capri Oasis Pasig.
Outside Metro Manila, the property firm has built One Oasis Cebu and One Oasis Davao.
Last month, it started building the Amalfi Oasis and will start construction of the San Remo Oasis in February. Both projects will be located at the 50.5-hectare Citta de Mare in Cebu’s South Road Properties.
Medium-rise buildings offer low-density living at lower cost. The projects also provide an inner-city alternative to more expensive high-rise condominium projects in Metro Manila.
Filinvest Land launched P7.6 billion worth of projects in the nine-month period including three new socialized housing projects, and 15 additional phases of existing projects.
Meanwhile, the company has sold half of the 1,800 units in its first high-rise project and first development in Makati, said Julian V. Concepcion, Jr., vice-president of Filinvest Land.
“Maybe it will take us less than one and a half years to completely sell The Linear out because when you start to build, sales increase,” he told reporters at the groundbreaking ceremony of the project.
The Linear, which started pre-selling in October 2008, will cost P3 billion for development and is estimated to book P4.5 billion in sales, Mr. Concepcion said.
Turnover for the first of two 24-storey towers is in December 2012.
The Linear has 22-square-meter (sq. m.) studio units costing P1.8 million each and 45-sq.-m. two-bedroom units worth P4 million to P4.2 million each.
Shares in Filinvest Land, whose profits jumped by more than half to almost P2 billion in the nine months that ended in September, fell by P0.02 to close at P1.28 apiece yesterday. -- Neil Jerome C. Morales
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