May Bahay Ka Na Ba?

DUBAI: For most overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) owning a condo seem a mammoth undertaking that’s beyond financial reach.

The mere thought of rolling out millions of hard earned pesos over several years for something you could not as yet have sounds daunting indeed, especially if one’s mindset about spending is like “parang umorder lang ng pansit or siopao – saglit lang andyan na.” (Like ordering fastfood, sit awhile and you’ll have it.)

Investing money and cumbersome time are the usual suspects why most Pinoys would rather forego seriously making an effort at buying real estate till the years finally catch up and see them in woes “kasi wala nang bubunutin sa bulsa.” (because there’s no money anymore.)

There are the “buts” and “ifs” too that add up so that one can guiltlessly look the other way and get on with their flamboyant idiosyncrasies – “bahala na si Batman!” (A popular Filipino expression to mean they are leaving everything to fate.)

But whoa!

The Philippine economy has been running full throttle over the past years, gathering steam to bring it to the next level with the government’s “build, build, build” growth masterplan. Pretty soon, every family would have someone renting out a condo, which has been sprouting like morels in spring, to buy another one as money keeps coming like coins raining from slot machines.

Consider this: According to a 2017 market report by the real estate think thank Lamudi, the Philippines property market is booming, transforming the country into a property investment hotspot, with a 6.7% GDP growth in 2016 that was “the fastest in the region.”

“Thanks to regulatory reforms which have come to fruition over the past 15 years, the Philippines’ real estate landscape has turned into a haven for foreign investors and local buyers alike,” said the Lamudi report, adding that four years ago, the Philippines began to make a name for itself as a highly reputable market among the Big Three credit rating agencies, first Fitch, then Standard & Poor, and finally Moody.

“With its new status came new success, and since then, the Philippines’ real estate market has been flourishing,” the report stated.

Key indicators
If this doesn’t ring a bell, nothing would probably will: the Lamudi report said a pillar of the Philippine economy’s growth are the remittances from OFWs, which in December 2016 hit a new record high of $2.56 billion, which enabled the government to overshoot its growth target.

As key officials of major real estate developers told The Filipino Times in previous interviews, “OFWs should now partake of the growth they have been instrumental in bringing forth by investing in it.”

Another indicator is the foreign direct investments (FDI), which, according to Trading Economics, increased by Ph26.710 million in Q3 of 2016. The average FDI between 2000 and 2016 was Ph40.68 million, it noted.

Metro Manila
Two years ago, global real estate consulting firm JLL recognized Metro Manila as one of its Top 30 Real Estate Investment Cities in the world in its Commercial Attraction Index, said the Lamudi report.

“By 2030, JLL predicts that Manila will be one of the world’s top 18 cities in terms of GDP. Metro Manila stands alongside other popular cities with impressive momentum such as Jakarta (Indonesia) and Istanbul (Turkey),” it stated. (With Neil Bie)

(Source: FilipinoTimes.net)

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