Sta. Lucia Land Takes a Cue and Adjusts

Relatively low-key developer Sta. Lucia Land, Inc. is taking a cue from the analysts and making adjustments in its plans and priorities. Liezel Tuason-Magpoc heads Sta. Lucia’s local and international sales and Bobby S. Gonzales leads the developer’s marketing arm. They share their views on the trends for 2017/

Tuason-Magpoc concedes that the real estate needs of Filipinos are changing as they have become more meticulous. With this, a greater demand for middle-income house-and-lot packages are foreseen especially in the areas of Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western and Central Visayas where 48 percent of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) come from.

However, not even 10 percent of the estimated 10.2 million Filipinos currently working and living abroad has been tapped.  What’s more, the number of potential clients continues to rise with at least 2 million Filipinos leaving the country every year.

Affordability

But considering the number of players in the market, affordability will be a major consideration for buyers.  Thus, house-and-lot packages ranging anywhere from P2.5 million to P3.5 million will move because their monthly amortization for their investment will still allow them to allocate their finances for their other family needs.

Sta. Lucia also believes that people still want to be in the big and busy Metro Manila. Despite the scarcity of land in the metro, there is still a great demand for residential condominiums and townhouses. So, residential condominiums intended as an investment for the rental market will continue to have a strong demand because to date, concentration of business is still in Metro Manila.

The heavy and worsening traffic that people face everyday has encouraged employees to live in areas near their offices. They rent condominium units especially within the central business districts (CBDs) for their ease and convenience. Their private homes are now their private respite.

Practical investment

Sta. Lucia conducts financial literacy programs abroad to help our OFWs in their investment choices.  These programs enlighten and encourage them to invest on assets where they can enjoy having passive income.  And one favorite investment instrument of OFWs is real estate, which is considered a hotshot among OFWs during forums.

Aside from residential condominium investments, Tuason-Magpoc says that OFWs are now investing in condotels. These are condominium units pooled together and operated as a hotel.  Since its introduction, condotels have become more popular especially among OFWs because they see this option as a truly hassle-free investment.

While one’s unit is under the condo-hotel program, the owner need not worry about its maintenance because the property management will ensure that it will be well maintained.  This is a major consideration for investors especially if they are working or living abroad and cannot oversee repairs and maintenance of their units when needed.

Tourism-driven demand

The growing number of tourists in the Philippines is another big boost to the interest of OFWs to invest in the tourism industry by investing in condotel projects. Whenever there are tourists, there is also a great demand for accommodations.

Local tourism alone is growing especially with budget fares now offered by various airline companies. Meetings, family vacations, company incentives and conventions also contribute to the strong demand for accommodation needs.

More places are also becoming highly accessible. Baguio, for instance, has become a three-and-a-half hour drive from Manila and has remained a favorite vacation spot for Filipinos. More accommodations are needed and as such, investing in a condotel project in Baguio will be a perfect income source for investors on the back of the regained vibrancy of the city due to tourists, both local and foreign.

Innovative

Sta. Lucia Land Inc. is one of the few developers offering the condotel concept.  What is unique about Sta. Lucia’s condotel projects is that aside from the monthly income that its investors can generate from their investment and hassle-free maintenance, they can also enjoy 30 free night stays in their invested condotel. Investors can also use a maximum of three nights from their 30-room night benefit in other operational condotels of Sta. Lucia.

Tuason-Magpoc affirms that the year 2017 will definitely be a year of innovative real estate projects that are sure to attract the discerning clients looking for that perfect investment to grow their wealth.

Marketing strategist Bobby Gonzales is also convinced that this may be a good time to tap the opportunities presented by a strong local economy. In order to do so, he says, one must need to know which sectors to target and how to effectively market and sell your projects.

Target markets

Among Sta. Lucia’s prime targets are the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and the so-called millennials. With Sta. Lucia’s customized OFW financial literacy programs conducted here and abroad, Gonzales is confident that the 10% OFWs who have been tapped for real estate investment choices will grow to a much larger percentage.

Meanwhile, Gonzales notes, the millennials continue to dictate retail spending in the country since they have high disposable incomes and have overtaken the baby boomers in terms of demographic size.

Property developers should thus consider the millennials’ needs and wants as they build condominiums for this segment, which is said to be very selective in terms of products and services that they patronize. Many of those falling under this market segment are first time real estate buyers.

Hence, communicating to them effectively will be key to successful sales.

Major considerations

For Gonzales, affordability will be a major consideration for buyers.  But features and amenities that a development can offer, as well as the payment schemes, are critical to the millennial buyers.

Gonzales and Tuason-Magpoc cite emerging Sta. Lucia projects to illustrate the adjustments the developer has been making to compete more aggressively in an increasingly crowded market.

One of the projects—Palo Alto Leisure & Residential Estates in Baras, Rizal—offers a wide range of property types to choose from, namely a residential lot, a farm lot or a prime commercial lot within the 250-hectare master planned community.

Another project, the East Bel-air Residences along Felix Avenue in Rizal, offers both residential condominiums and condotels.

SOURCE:  Philippine Daily Inquirer