Property developer keeps optimism on Cebu market

CEBU, Philippines – Maria Luisa Properties remains bullish of Cebu’s real estate market and continues to develop more projects despite the gloomy global economy.

Maria Luisa Properties general manager Annabelle O. Aboitiz said in an interview that the global financial crisis has been really tough for the real estate players especially that it prompted consumers to be very cautious on their investment decisions.

Added to that is the unstable price movement of construction materials, which has been drastically moving up and down for the past months, which in turn prompted the company to sell lots only instead of the initial plan of selling house and lot packages in its latest project in Pulangbato, Talamban, the Redstone Village.

“Cement, gravel prices have soared really high in the previous months especially when we were starting the development. Since we were deeply burdened by the price increases of construction materials we decided to sell out lots only after we have finished the construction of four model houses,” said Aboitiz.

Redstone Village is a one-hectare property composed of 75 raw lots with a 95 to 100 square meter cut and with price per square meters ranging from P7, 500 to P8, 000.

She said the crisis developed resistance among real estate buyers considering the uncertainty of the economy and the negative news concerning other investment options.

However, despite the slowdown, Aboitiz said the company still believes in Cebu’s market potential and they continue to look forward to developing more future projects here.

“Based on our prior experiences with the market, we noted that despite the hard times, more and more people still favor Cebu as a place to invest and to live in so we foresee that Cebu will later on become a really big market for the real estate industry. At this point, developers are still developing properties and buyers are still buying,” said Aboitiz.

She said that with Pag-Ibig’s continued support in the loan financing as well as the aggressiveness of banks to give out loans, real estate buyers are still given the privilege to invest for their homes.

In fact, Maria Luisa Properties already has an upcoming project in the pipeline which will be another lot only subdivision called The Heritage in Jagobiao, Mandaue City.

Maria Luisa Properties started with a 10-hectare high-end Maria Luisa Estate Park in 1965. — Rhia de Pablo