Expat demand boost luxury housing market in the Philippines

Sales remain robust despite high prices due to demand created by expats

Expats are creating a mini property boom in the Philippines as demand for luxury apartments in the country rises, it is claimed.

Sales have remained robust despite their high prices and this is because they are popular with foreigners, according to a report from real estate advisory firm CB Richard Ellis Philippines.

A surge in the number of foreign companies, especially business process outsourcing companies (BPOs) means that that more companies are buying and leasing property out to their employees.

According to Jose Luis Matti, executive director of CBRE Philippines Asset Services, the growth of the expat population has fuelled the demand for luxury residential condominiums in the country.

‘A luxury condominium is one of the top choices. If it’s bought for investment purposes, the chance of you being able to lease it out at a very good rate is high,’ he said.

‘A 300 square meter condo could go for around P300,000 a month in rent so if you look at that in terms of investment, if you bought one of those to lease out, your return on investment would be pretty good,’ he explained.

Besides the expat population, Matti said people with a lot of family money, prominent families in Manila, and families in large corporations are the primary buyers of luxury projects in the country.

‘There have been a few years in the past when the market for luxury residential hasn’t been as good but I think we’ve gone past the hump and it has always been one of the better performing segments of the industry that’s why there are always high end projects,’ said Matti.

He expects there to be a healthy demand for luxury property this year.

‘You can’t buy large pieces of land in Metro Manila anymore so the next closest thing would be a luxury residential condominium,’ he pointed out.

Major developers of luxury condominiums in the country include Century Properties, Metro Pacific, Ayala Land, JTKC Land, and Kingdom of SA. According to Asuncion, the supply of luxury residential condominiums will remain constant.