Filinvest expanding residential portfolio

MANILA, Philippines - Gotianun-led Filinvest Land Inc. is aggressively expanding its residential property portfolio with plans to roll out P17.5 billion worth of projects this year or more than double the value of projects in 2013.

Sources said FLI remains bullish on the property sector despite fears of a housing bubble, pointing out that a big chunk or 64 percent of the projects to be launched this year are mid-rise and high-rise residential buildings.

The company is building P8.3 billion worth of high-rise projects in Buendia and Binondo to take advantage of the continued strong demand for residential properties.

Filipinos living abroad are expected to take up 30 to 32 percent of FLI’s total sales which are forecast to rise by 10 percent.

Capitalizing on a growing economy, FLI plans to more than double its leasing portfolio to 870,000 square meters by 2018 from 345,000 as of end-December last year.

It plans to launch two office buildings near Mall of Asia with a total gross leasable area of 32,000 sqm.  Plans are also underway to construct four additional office buildings with a combined GLA of 122,000 sqm in the company’s Filinvest City along Alabang Zapote road.

Aside from this, FLI also plans to put up buildings catering to the business process outsourcing business in newly-acquired properties located near Cubao, Ortigas and GMA-7 in Quezon City.

For its retail leasing business, FLI expects to make available additional 80,000 sqm of retail space in 2015 from its mall expansion in Alabang and Cebu.

To maintain its position as the biggest mall in southern part of Metro Manila, FLI is developing malls in Tagaytay, Cavite and Binondo which would boost GLA by 50,000 sqm in the next two years.

The company sees its profit rising by 13 to 14 percent this year.  In the nine months ending September 2013, FLI posted a net income of P2.44 billion, up 22 percent in the same period the previous year.