Property developer lines up P1B projects for Cebu, Bohol

A local real estate developer has lined up at least three residential projects in Cebu and Bohol with about 750 housing units and an investment of about P1 billion for the first half of 2013.

“For our next projects, our thrust is towards areas with high tourism traffic,” said Ramero Espina, Primary Homes,Inc. (PHI) vice president for sales and marketing said in an interview yesterday.

Espina said that the projects were in line with the firm’s belief that the industry would continue growing in the next two years.

NEW PROJECTS

For the first half of next year, a six-hectare project will be developed in a property in Mactan beside Tambuli Beach Resort.

The project called Almeja will have about 400 units with an investment of at least P600 million.

Another project under the Glendale series will be built in Liloan town, northern Cebu.

PHI will invest P200 million in this project which will involve the construction of 100 housing units.

Another P200-million project will be launched in Baclayon, Bohol in the first half of next year. The low-cost housing project will add about 250 housing units in the Bohol area.

“We see this market as a good market to tap especially that tourism industry is also booming in Central Visayas, we want to add more value to the properties we develop,” said Espina.

TOURISM GROWTH

Espina also expressed confidence on the continued growth of the tourism industry with the soon to be built terminal expansion of the Mactan Cebu International Airport.

He said the terminal project would fuel more tourism growth and thus create demand for their housing products.

According to Espina, the real estate industry is projected to grow by 10 percent in the next two years.

OVERSUPPLY

“Supply however is growing faster than the demand especially in Cebu City that is why we decided to go out (of Cebu City) and develop properties that will compliment the tourism industry,” Espina said.

Majority of the projects is being done by local developers, which are relatively new in the industry.

“What is happening is that new local developers decided to start developing especially those with properties already,” said Espina.

This supply-driven growth however needs to be addressed to avoid a glut in the future especially in the main commercial centers in Cebu, Espina said.

POSITIONING

The firm is also positioning their projects outside Cebu as early as now to anticipate the trend of the population growth outside the Cebu City area.

“There’s more growth in areas outside of Cebu City now. Cebu City’s population has not expanded much and based on latest data we gathered it is still somewhere in 800,000 while population in other areas like in Mactan, Mandaue City, Consolacion, Liloan expanded by at least 5 percent, actually more than double the growth rate in Cebu City,” said Espina.

Aside from the projects outside Cebu City, PHI launched last month their first resort-theme countryside project in Argao, south of Cebu called Argao Royal Palms which will add 300 units for second home owners or the active retirees by first quarter of 2014.

CALL TO GOV’T

Espina also urged the government should start doing something to sustain the economic growth in Cebu and the region by creating more job opportunities so that the population base could have more capacity to buy their own homes.

“The buyers especially in properties within the main commercial areas are mostly investors. We can have more buyers from those who will really live in the property if we have more people, who are able to buy, this can be done with a growing economy with high earning population base,” said Espina.

The oversupply issue or problem will also be avoided if the general population of Cebu or the Central Visayas region already have high purchasing power.