Cebu hit by mid-range housing shortage

CEBU, Philippines - While demand for residential properties in Cebu has surged to record highs, Metro Cebu and the province as a whole is suffering from shortage of middle range house and lot products, with almost zero inventory to date.

Philippine Allied Chamber of Real Estate Brokers (PhilAcre) president and licensed salesman Anthony Leuterio said that buyers are now demanding for house and lot products, specifically those that are priced between P1 million to P2.8 million, within the Metro Cebu area.

Although, there are still active interest from the market in buying condominium units, Leuterio said house and lot products are much in demand.

Because of this, Leuterio is urging developers to start off with pocket-subdivision projects in order to cater to the demand.

“We dont have inventories to show to our clients next month. Everything is sold out already, from Lilo-an [north], to Minglanilla [south],” he said.

He said developers should have thought of this shortage ahead of time. Now, the market is very active, more buyers prefer to have house and lot, over condonimium.

Although he said that while condominium take up rate is speeding up also, the challenge now is the availability of good location and affordability of units.

All inventories in the good location areas for condominiums have already been sold, Leuterio said adding that the good performance of Cebu’s real estate market is seen to sustain in the long term, and impression to experience supply in condominium units is far-fetched.

Today, brokers are having problems in offering what the market is needing. “We dont have supply of affordable house and lot in Cebu.”

 Leuterio mentioned, the projects of like Happy Homes (Mactan), Ajoya (AboitizLand), Collin Wood (Primary Homes), Garden Blooms subdivision, among others are already sold out.

“We hope that developers will be able to start off with house and lot projects as soon as possible, while the market is still there,” Leuterio said.

Some developers however, he said are now having hard time looking for good locations for pocket subdivision projects.

A size of at least 2,000 square-meter property is already good for a pocket-subdivision project, to satisfy the active market, Leuterio said.

Because of the lack of big raw property (for sale) within the Metro Cebu area, Leuterio said pocket-subdivision project is ideal for Cebu right now.

While there are also available house and lot products being sold now, the market is also becoming quality and affordability driven. Good, quality and affordable projects are sold out already, he added.

He reiterated that while developers are more inclined to develop condominium projects in Cebu, because it only requires lesser land consumption, Cebuano market or the Filipino culture still largely dictate buyers to opt for house and lot properties.

“We hope developers will be able to introduce more affordable residential package to the market. We are running out of options,” Leuterio said.