House and lot benefit investors more - exec

CEBU, Philippines - Apart from the existing demand for condominiums, Primary Homes promotes house and lot packages as a viable investment opportunity for investors who want to invest in a property, especially tourists eyeing Philippines as a second home.  

Ramero Espina, Vice President for Sales and Marketing of Primary Homes, told The FREEMAN that investors could benefit more as real estate investments produce higher capital gains as prices appreciate 5% annually due to inflation rate and generates a passive income by 6 to 8% per annum when rented out.

Cebu has been experiencing a real estate boom with an average of ten percent growth every year primarily due to the Business Process Outsourcing, influx in tourism, and continuous remittances of overseas Filipino workers, Espina pointed out.

He said that the company is presently targeting the investment needs of these major economic growth drivers, pushing more their subdivisions and house and lots rather than just condominiums.

Espina noted that the housing demands of the BPO professionals and OFWs are already being catered to with the sufficient supply of condominiums here.

The local and foreign tourists are the “underserved” market in the real estate industry, Espina said.

Compared to condominiums which are a hit among migrants and working professionals, Espina said that house and lot packages cater to the needs of tourists who prefer to stay longer in a particular tourist destination.

These tourists prefer to buy or rent a house than pay higher accommodation rates in hotels.

According to Espina Primary Homes is embarking on residential projects primarily to cater to the tourism market.

The company has three ongoing developments for this segment. These are   Royal Palms in Panglao Island, Bohol; Alegria Palms in Mactan Island and Argao Royal Palms in Argao, Cebu.

Aside from two incoming projects in Bohol and Mactan by next year, Espina said that Primary Homes plans to expand more in areas where there is tourist boom particularly in southern Cebu where 80% of the eco-tourist destinations are located.

“We want to maximize the economic growth to cater to the tourism demand for houses and condominiums.

Tourists are willing to stay for a longer time and prefer those locations accessible to beaches and resorts. We are going out of the norm to open the minds of the public with the investment opportunities found in house and lots,” he told The FREEMAN.

“Once we promote, we already have the ready infrastructure. We want to ride with the tourism growth as it is expected to increase more with the target of 4 million tourists by 2016,” Espina added.

Local investors could also venture into house and lots and have it rented out to foreigners particularly Koreans and Europeans, Espina concluded.  (FREEMAN)