Real estate experts seen to help fuel industry growth

SOME 8000 real estate agents in the country will help fuel growth in the real estate market especially in Cebu.

Christopher Malazarte, managing partner of Rent.ph, made this observation with 105 buildings across the country offering condominium units would be finished by 2015.

Rent.ph is a website offering a nationwide list of properties for rent and property-related services which helps bring the owner and the renter assisted by real estate experts.

Malazarte said more investors would be expected to buy properties in Cebu because of its economic growth.

“People are really selling properties, even Manila developers are coming to Cebu because Manila is now congested,” Malazarte said.

He also cited the South Road Properties, the growing tourism industry, and the overseas Filipino workers as the reason for this optimism in the industry.

Filinvest and SM are the few investors developing parts of the SRP.

SRP

He said investors were interested in the SRP.

He also said that the 64 new hypermarkets developed this year in Cebu were signs of growth.

A hypermarket is a mix of grocery and a mall in 2,000 to 4,000 square meter area.

Malazarte said people today would buy properties instead of putting their money in the bank.

Overseas Filipino workers and foreign investors are particularly exploring the condotel trend to earn out of their condominium properties.

Malazarte said the condo owner would have their condominiums rented while they would be away on vacation.

Malazarte said he would expect 170 to 200 condominium units to be completed by 2017.

Another reason for the growth is several options to obtain loans to acquire properties. One of these is through the Pag-ibig Fund, which is reducing its interest rates to 7.69 percent for housing loans.