Jose Soberano III, Founder and CEO of Cebu Landmasters, asserts that there is room for greater real estate growth in Vis-Min.
Cebu Landmasters, Inc. (CLI) has begun pouring some P12 billion in investments to maximize opportunities presented by real estate centers in the Visayas-Mindanao (Vis-Min) area where growth has been unprecedented in the past few years.
In Vis-Min, close to 16,500 hectares have been earmarked by industry players for 45 mixed-use developments, according to studies by Leechiu Property Consultants.
Jose Soberano III, Founder, President and CEO of the number one local real estate developer in Metro Cebu, CLI, asserts there is room for even more growth fuelled mostly by the expansion of the BPO industry, sustained OFW remittances, and flagship infrastructure projects to pump prime tourism outside of Luzon.
“Seeing a compelling mix of opportunities posed by record growth in the region, we are broadening our expansion to rapidly growing cities like Metro Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete and of course Cebu,” he said.
Vis-Min’s unprecedented growth
This favorable investment environment is buoyed up by the projected sustained growth of the BPO industry from the current 1.7 million to 2.1 million full-time workers by the year 2022.
An estimated 20,000 new jobs were generated by the BPO industry in Cebu alone in 2016, according to studies. The global business outsourcing think tank Tholons has declared Metro Cebu as a top outsourcing destination in the world, ranking seventh worldwide. Iloilo, Bacolod and Dumaguete have also been dubbed as “Next Wave cities” where BPOs are fielding operations in search of new talents.
To fill in Cebu’s rising demand for office and residential space as a favored BPO hub, CLI is completing the top-end Baseline HQ office project in a strategic Metro Cebu location.
CLI will soon begin construction of Latitude Corporate Center, destined to be a prestige office address for small and large business and BPOs in the Cebu Business Park.
The growth of the real estate industry has also been driven by overseas contract workers from the Vis-Min area who account for 33.4 percent of all OFWs. Soberano observed: “Many overseas workers use their remittances to acquire real estate back home. CLI’s Casa Mira projects, its economic housing offering in Linao, Minglanilla, Cebu Naga City, and Dumaguete City, for instance, count many OFW families as homeowners and residents. Some 60 per cent of CLI residential buyers are OFWs.”
Tourism growth in the region, with Metro Cebu taking the lead with its average growth rate of 11.58 percent in the past four years, has contributed to the real estate boom in Visayas and Mindanao.
To meet visitors’ growing needs, CLI is building a Citadines Cebu City Hotel managed by The Ascott with 180 rooms to be completed in 2019, just as the new Mactan International Airport takes in its first passengers. Two more hotel projects are also in the offing for CLI in Cebu.
Vis-Min Expansion
According to Soberano, CLI is developing 11 new projects in 2017 alone, in the identified Vis-Min hotspots of Cebu, Metro Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, and Dumaguete. CLI launched its first project in Davao in March this year, a mid-end residential condo in the heart of Davao which sold 80 percent of 694 units in less than a month.
CLI counts on its homecourt advantage, and local knowledge to better respond and deliver real estate products sought out by buyers, according to Soberano. “Our ability to conceptualize and market projects across all real estate product lines and deliver personalized service, quality and great value makes us uniquely equipped in the region to maximize available opportunities.” /PR