Quake spurs growth in Cebu rental demand

CEBU, Philippines - While the recent earthquake that hit most parts of the Visayas is seen not to affect the appetite of real estate buyers and developers to continue investing on the sector, growth on residential rentals in Cebu has doubled up.

In an interview yesterday, Rent.ph chief executive officer Anthony Leuterio said that Cebu's rental demand has doubled in the last couple of weeks, immediately after the 7.2 magnitude quake.

"More and more Boholanos are now looking for temporary residence in Cebu, and the continued aftershocks also prompted them to make Cebu as their second home as of the moment," said Leuterio.

Although this is just temporary, he said the real estate rental industry in Cebu now has seen its highest peak, so far.

"We cannot accommodate anymore every inquiry. Most landlords also prefer long or short term contracts, and the priorities are those that sign for at least one year rental deals," he said.

Prior to the earthquake, Cebu had already seen swelling demand for home rental, including apartments, condominium, town houses, among others, due to the unrest in Mindanao.

Because of this, Leuterio said most rent managers decline short term rental demands, and instead advice prospects to live with relatives or friends from Cebu.

Although Cebu is not spared from the continuous tremors, he said Boholanos believe that it is still safer to live here as of the moment.

In the recent years, due to the robust tourism sector and the remarkable growth of business process outsourcing (BPO) and other industries, Cebu's rental sector has been performing healthily, Leuterio said.

According to Leuterio, because the rental demand in Cebu is on its high level, most owners and landlords are now also demanding for long-term lease contracts. Short term stay deals are not attractive for them, he added.

The problem now is, this temporary shoot up for housing-for-rent demand can't be well served because of the landlords' preference for long term (at least one-year renewable)  contract.

Rent.ph, which recently got its patent registration from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), is so far the largest online rental solutions portal in the Philippines. It has spread is rent managers all over the key cities in the Philippines.

Excluding the demand from increasing number of people migrating due to work assignments and employment opportunities from out of town individuals, families from Bohol and Mindanao wanting to make Cebu their temporary home triple the demand level all the more.

From 300 to 400 inquiries a day, the number has doubled in the last few days, he said.

Currently, the standard rental rate for condominium, for instance, is pegged at one percent of the total value of the unit. The exact rate, however, may increase depending on the availability of facility and furnishings in the unit.

Aside from the increasing short-term rental demand from Mindanao and Bohol, Leuterio said home rental requirement is also rising from the foreign markets, specifically those who are planning to stay in Cebu for longer time.

He said some of tourists are now also opting to rent a house or condominium to cut cost rather than staying at a hotel for weeks or months. This development also led to the increasing demand for more condo-tel type of accommodation in Cebu.

Most foreign vacationers stay as long as one month to three months, making Cebu as their temporary home base while they explore the different tourist destinations in the Visayas or even Luzon. /JMD (FREEMAN)