June 15, 2007
Updated 15:11:13 (Mla time)
MANILA, Philippines -- Major Philippine property developer Megaworld Corp. expects real estate net sales this year to increase to P10 billion from P6.16 billion last year, boosted by brisk sales of apartments in its condominium developments, the company said.
"For the first five months alone, reservation sales alone already reached P9 billion, up 96 percent from P4.6 billion a year ago", executive director Kingson Sian told the annual stockholders' meeting.
"We are in uncharted territory. The bullish market makes the current property cycle boom far more sustainable than the previous ones," said
He said the increase in demand for its mid-market and upmarket housing was fueled by new kinds of buyer, mostly Filipinos working overseas, who now account for about 20 percent of its sales.
Low interest rates will further encourage buying, and a slight increase in rates is unlikely to dampen buyers' interest,
"The banks have not yet even started lending, as a large part of our previous sales were from Filipinos working abroad," he said.
In view of the company's first-quarter earnings of P784 million, 30 percent more than a year before, Megaworld is certain it will hit its earnings target for this year of P2.9 billion,
"Aside from the residential sector, we expect bigger revenue from higher rental income from our business process outsourcing buildings and retail projects," the executive director added.
http://services.inquirer.net/express/07/06/16/html_output/xmlhtml/20070615-71509-xml.html
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