“Let’s call it what it is: an oversupply of 29 months, and [developers] have been very tepid and slow in launching new projects,” Roy Golez, Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC) director for research and consultancy, said during a media briefing on Wednesday.
This translates to over 67,000 unsold units across 510 “actively selling” buildings.
Big picture
LPC data highlights challenges in the residential market, prompting developers to slow new launches as available supply gets sold.
Golez noted that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ monetary easing brings hope that lower rates will boost real estate demand.
“We’re really looking at interest rates to drop to provide a boost to quarterly sales,” he said.
What’s going on?
According to LPC, buyers and developers remain wary of “geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainty.”
It also cited high interest rates and a shift in buyer preferences toward properties in nearby provinces.
Builders such as Ayala Land have shifted gears in their strategy by focusing on the upper-income and ultra-luxury markets while demand recovers.
A few key data points
Of the total inventory being sold, 32 percent are current units while 68 percent are in the pre-selling stage.
Most of these are located in Quezon City (18,500 units), followed by Ortigas (13,500 units), Manila Bay (10,500 units), and Manila (8,500 units).
Positive outliers
Thanks to low levels of unsold inventory, Bonifacio Global City (Taguig) has grown capital value by 2 percent while Makati grew by 8 percent.
Taguig has also fully rebounded to pre-pandemic rental rates and leads the property market in growth.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
