‘The future of the condo market’
Developers need to listen more attentively and intuitively to homebuyers to catch their interest amid an overwhelmingly crowded market.
That was a major takeaway for participants at “The Future of the Condo Market,” the latest leg of INQTalks: A Discussion with The Experts held on July 21 at the Grand Westside Hotel in Parañaque City. The exclusive forum was a collaboration between Inquirer Property and Global-Estate Resorts Inc. (GERI), a subsidiary of Megaworld Corp.
Bold response
“Everywhere you look, there are rows of under construction or newly built condominiums. However, the lack of demand has been staggering lately… To address this challenge today, we need to evolve and adapt. We listen to residents, to cities, to emerging lifestyles. Then we respond boldly with integrated solutions,” said Karen Piolo-Arcilla, VP for Sales and Marketing for The Fifth by Global-Estate Resorts Inc.
“This has been the inspiration and driving force behind our first high rise community in Ortigas, Pasig City, located inside the Renaissance Compound: The Fifth by Global-Estate Resorts Inc.,” she added.
The Fifth is a two-tower condominium project. With just over 700 studio and one- to three-bedroom units, it has a low-density layout on each floor. Each unit features its own balcony and has access to resort-like amenities.
Piolo-Arcilla said those allowed residents to enjoy more flexibility with their condominium unit and experience elements of suburban life.
Strategic location
Location was also an important consideration in building The Fifth. After all, people wanted their homes near essential establishments like schools, workplaces, shopping centers, hospitals, among others.
This made Pasig City an ideal choice—strategically located and well-integrated within Metro Manila’s urban core.
In her keynote address, Architect Dulce Corazon Villanueva of the Pasig City Planning and Development Office said residents in this city have enjoyed connectivity to employment centers in Ortigas Center, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and Makati central business district (CBD).
On top of that, she said the city has encouraged the entry of diverse businesses, including real estate developers. Pasig City expects more growth opportunities given the big-ticket improvements to the capital’s transit systems.
The Fifth, in particular, would be near the future stations of MRT-4 and the Metro Manila Subway. These infrastructure developments are among the factors influencing buyer interest and shaping demand trends in the residential market.
Key demand drivers
In the same discussion, Catherine Reformado, associate director at Leechiu Property Consultants Inc., said the market already saw a “tempered demand” for residential products.
She noted that the four key drivers of residential demand—gross domestic product, remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), revenues from the IT and business process management sector, and international tourism receipts—remained resilient.
She also noted that, of the 764,100 total condominium units in Metro Manila, 619,000 are ready-for-occupancy (RFO) units and 145,000 units are pre-selling. Ninety-five percent of the RFOs and 62 percent of pre-selling units are already sold. According to Reformado, there are currently 82,800 available units from 638 actively selling buildings equivalent to about three years’ supply.
As INQTalks drew to a close, Reformado and Piolo-Arcilla sat down with Engineer Nico Paul V. Nicolas, area manager at Premium Megastructures Inc., and Architect Ces Orquina, senior partner at PRSP Architects for a panel discussion, moderated by Inquirer Property editor Tek Samaniego.
