Mass housing market still robust, says FLI

MANILA, Philippines – Sales of publicly listed Filinvest Land Inc. to the expatriate Filipino community remain strong despite the global economic crisis, as FLI caters mainly to the mass housing market, its head said yesterday.

Because of this, FLI, the real estate firm of the Gotianun family, will launch 29 new projects worth P7.4 billion this year. This is higher than the P6.6 billion capital expenditure program of the company last year.

“So far, we’re not even seeing a dip [in sales], so there’s nothing to recover,” FLI president Joseph Yap told reporters during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City yesterday.

“The mass market is still quite strong,” he added, pointing out that the crisis’ impact was felt most at the higher end of the property market – a segment where Filinvest has limited exposure.

Yap said even sales to overseas Filipino workers remained robust, since most of their clients in this market – either the expatriate workers themselves or their local relatives – were end-users themselves. As much as 50 percent of the company’s residential units are sold to OFWs and their dependents.

“The Philippines’ main export markets as well as the main destinations for OFWs are in recession, and millions of Filipinos are losing their jobs worldwide,” he said.

“Despite this, we believe that demand for [FLI’s] mass housing business will remain strong,” Yap said, explaining the resilience of this segment to the crisis. “Most of our customers are first-time buyers and, therefore, their purchase of a house is more of a need rather than a want.” –Daxim Lucas, Philippine Daily Inquirer