Better days for property sector seen

Having reached rock bottom in 2001, the property sector which has since been showing signs of improvement "has no way to go but up," projected Victor H. Manarang, president and chief executive officer of Earth+Style Corp., a lifestyle property development company catering to the broad middle and the upper classes of society.

Manarang based his optimism on the fact that despite 9-11 (the terror attacks on the United States in 2001), "the country’s property sector fared better in 2002 (when most economies in the globe shrank) doing even better this year. Its performance next year will outdo its performance in 2003."

Manarang said the reason for the sector’s downturn in the middle and late ’90s – when demand fell sharply and an oversupply of high rise and upscale construction caused sharp declines in real property prices – was that the industry "overbuilt" leading to an oversupply in available projects that could not be absorbed by the demand then.

But since many projects had been put on hold, demand has kept pace with existing supply for the last four to five years, thereby causing a return to a relative balance in supply and demand for upscale housing development and high rise condominium projects, he explained.

"There years ago and previous to that, we saw supply increasing by 13 to 15 percent a year while demand did not grow as fast," he said.

For the past two years, though, "what seemed to be an oversupply of subdivisions has slowly being absorbed by the market – with the broad C coming from overseas based workers, middle managers and an increasing batch of new entrepreneurs locally," he added.

"Not even the recent coup in Oakwood resulted in a softening in the sector in the level experienced during the Asian financial crisis of 1997 until 2001," Manarang said.

He said that even when he was yet with the Ayala group, "we saw the sector expanding inexplicably too fast – with demand not really growing but supply and prices going abnormally fast – and back then we knew that there was already a bubble that pretty soon would burst. And it did."

Earth+Style launched last Oct. 12 its P3.5 billion 154-hectare property development called Jubilation New Biñan in Mamplasan, Biñan, Laguna that crosses through three towns of Laguna.

The project has four community components with their corresponding themes and amenities namely the Asian-inspired Jubilation Village East and West; Villagio di Xavier carrying the Italian-Mediterranean themes and the Springtime Country that has a country-American theme.

Buyers can either buy just the lots (with the developer building customized homes for them) or a package of house and lots (that may or may not follow available models of the company), Manarang said.

Prices range from P620,000 to P5 million depending on lot sizes and their locations Development of the entire project is expected to last four to five years.

To further improve accessibility of would-be village dwellers, the company built the Mampalasan access road that connects the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to the Biñan town proper traversing through Jubilation New Biñan, which will contain commercial, residential and institutional components. With the new access road, it will take Biñan residents only 30 minutes to reach Makati and 45 minutes to Ortigas via the Mampalasan interchange.

Mamplasan, one of 24 barangays in Biñan, is seen by Earth+Style as the next urban growth destination owing to its proximity to Laguna's industrial hubs where over 200,000 jobs are available.