Developer focuses on economic housing projects

CEBU-based developer MSY Holdings Corp. is eyeing affordable and mass housing projects in Talisay and Mandaue cities, a top executive said.

The company launched on Tuesday its second residential subdivision under the Bayswater brand.

Bayswater Talisay will rise on a 6.2-hectare property and offer 494 house and lot units by 2018 or 2019, said MSY president and chief-executive-officer of Martin Philip Yeung.

Yeung said the future of real estate development is in the affordable housing segment, where a huge market is still untapped.

“You can always continue (to construct) high-class (residential projects), but I don’t really think high-class is the future. I think it’s affordable housing that is the future,” he said during the official launching of Bayswater Talisay.

He said they were eyeing developments in nearby cities like Talisay and Mandaue, which are not as saturated with residential projects.

For Yeung, Talisay is a hotspot for the next five to 10 years.

“Competition is always going to be around. It’s how you adapt to competition in terms of pricing and construction that matters. My direction for MSY now is to focus on affordable and mass market housing,” he said.

The company’s newest project, Bayswater Talisay, will offer four-unit designs, namely Gumamela, Magnolia, Adelfa, and Champaca, which will be priced as low as P2.5 million to as high as P8.9 million.

Units are “selling fast,” said Yeung. He said the bell, which signals a unit reservation, has been ringing “non-stop” during the official launch.

Meanwhile, MSY’s high-end condominium project with partner PJ Lhuillier Group, 128 Nivel Hills, has been put on hold, Yeung said.

The project broke ground in January 2014, alongside the topping off of its first mixed-used project, MSY Tower. Discussions are being held on what to do with the development.

“As I said, high-end is basically not the future. We are trying to re-establish our direction,” Yeung said.

MSY was founded in 2003 by chairman Mariquita Salimbangon-Yeung. At present, the company has around 10 projects in its portfolio, including Kandaya Resort, MSY Tower, Bayswater Mactan and Talisay, Bougainvillea Village-Mactan, Bougainvillea Village-Linao, Mactan Island Memorial Gardens, and various pocket developments.