Rising demand to push property prices higher

CEBU, Philippines —  Real estate values in Cebu are poised for growth as the market continues to see healthy demand, a property analyst said.

Jonathan Macalintal, project development consultant at Santos Knight Frank, said that property values in Cebu City have historically risen.

For instance, he cited that back in 2010, a certain condominium project located in Cebu IT Park, one of the city's key business districts, cost around P75,000 per square meter. 

Today, that value has increased to P142,000 per square meter, almost double the previous value.

Macintal said, during the launch of a new condo project in Cebu City named Arc Towers by ABC Prime last Friday, that they expect property values in Cebu to increase further.

With Cebu becoming a robust ground for real estate projects, he said investors in the market would really see values rising over the long-term.

Macalintal pointed out Cebu's strong economy has maintained its attractiveness to new investments.

"Billions of pesos are being poured into the Cebu market," the property consultant said.

He was referring to the big property townships being constructed across Metro Cebu.

These include Megaworld's 28.8-hectare Mactan Newtown in Lapu-Lapu City; Filinvest Land's 54-hectare City Di Mare at South Road Properties in Cebu City; Hongkong Land and Taft Properties' 20-hectare Mandani Bay in Mandaue City; and the 17.5-hectare Gatewalk Central by Ayala Land and AboitizLand in Mandaue.

"These are emerging business districts in Cebu," he said.

He noted that key infrastructure projects are implemented, Cebu will likely see more growth in its key sectors.

Aside from strong economic growth, he cited the province being a regional hub and the proposed infrastructure projects in the southern economic hub that make its growth potential more robust.