The Philippines’ property market is now witnessing more foreign buyers, according to media reports.
Yield-hungry investors from Japan to Malaysia now purchase condos there in bulk, shifting money from traditional property hotspots such as Singapore and Hong Kong, where governments have imposed curbs, explained experts.
“There has never been this strong foreign interest in the Philippines,” noted David Young, Colliers International’s Philippines Managing Director.
In fact, 40 percent of the space in new condominiums is usually owned by foreigners. While they cannot own land in the Philippines under the country’s law, foreigners can possess condos, provided 60 percent of the project’s total floor area are owned by Filipinos.
“The fact that you have all these developers maximising the foreign limit is becoming very common,” said JLL’s Philippines Country Manager David Leechiu.
The mounting demand for property is attributed to high yields within seven to nine percent. This range surpasses those in other Asian cities by nearly two-fold, and this could last for at least five more years, experts noted.
Manila is also ranked as the fourth best property investment destination in the Asia-Pacific region this year, after Tokyo, Shanghai and Jakarta, revealed a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute.
According to developers Ayala Land, Megaworld Corp, and Century Properties Group, Singaporeans, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Malaysians bought the most condominiums among foreigners in the past 18 months.
As such, it comes as no surprise that Century Properties is targeting wealthy Asians for its upcoming 60-storey office and residential project in Makati, a city in Metro Manila.
Named Century Spire (pictured), the project is expected to be completed in four years and around 67 percent of the units has already been taken up, with many of the apartments going to wealthy Asians of other nationalities.
Muneerah Bee, Senior Journalist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email muneerah@propertyguru.com.sg
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