Empire East expects higher reservation sales this year

MANILA, Philippines - Empire East Land Holdings Inc., the mid-cost property firm of tycoon Andrew Tan, hopes to surpass its reservation sales figure last year of P13 billion as it continues to expand its business.

In an interview following the company’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday, Empire East president Anthony Charlemagne Yu said prospects are rosy on the back of steady demand.

Yu said reservation sales reach at least P1 billion every month.

The company is spending between P4 billion and P5 billion for new and ongoing projects.

It plans to expand in Luzon, and possibly in Visayas and Mindanao.

“There are plans to develop outside Metro Manila to replicate projects in Laguna Bel-Air,” Yu told reporters.

He said Empire East is expected to benefit from the Duterte administration’s infrastructure program.

“If it’s good for the economy and real estate, it will redound to Empire East,” Yu said.

The company is on schedule for the delivery of its transit-oriented developments. It expects to turn over Towers 1 and 4 of Little Baguio Terraces. Work for Towers 2 and 3 have reached the 51 percent and 75 percent mark, respectively.

“To keep our schedule of delivering quality properties to homebuyers and investors, we expect to spend about P4 billion to P5 billion for construction and development work in 2017.”

“We currently have P2.9 billion worth of properties, with an aggregate area of 404 hectares. As we prepare to roll out new phases for our existing projects, we are intent on coming up with new, creative and memorable ways to keep the company in the mid space of the market. We have, in fact, tailored our out of home advertising strategies to accomplish exactly this,” Yu said in a message to shareholders.

Empire East became an independent real estate developer in 1994. It was born out of Tan’s vision of coming up with luxury-themed residences that are affordable to Filipinos.