By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT Japanese companies and individual investors are aggressively investing not just as property developers but as bulk buyers of office and residential units in the Philippines drawn by the very affordable real estate in the country’s major cities, according to a property management company. Sheila Baylon, co-founder of Property Access, a Japanese-Filipino real estate joint venture founded in Japan, said at the launch of the PropertyAccess.ph website they hope to double their sales this year to $80 million all from Japanese investors. According to Baylon, the company was able to generate $80 million in sales from the third quarter of 2018 up to end 2019. While PropertyAccess seeks to serve the wider Asia real estate market, Baylon said they are focusing on the Philippine market first and are catering to Japanese investors and professionals because of the strong Japanese demand for the Philippines. As an integrated real estate company, PropertyAccess Philippines offers property developments in joint venture with Japanese investors, management consultancy firms, data and analyses, and marketing of real estate assets in the country. All major real estate companies and big property developers and brokers joined the relaunch of PropertyAccess Philippines last week. “Japanese businessmen prefer to invest in the Philippines because we are the most affordable compared to other countries in the region plus we are only 4 hours away by plane,” said Baylon. Baylon said big Japanese property developers have already existing partnership with local developers. But more Japanese developers are coming and others are investing in office spaces in Metro Manila and Cebu during the pre-selling stage of project developments. Japanese professionals are also buying condominium units in bulk. Baylon noted that the Japanese investors are also into the upscale real estates with prices starting from ₱8 million and above. “We buy mostly office spaces and we buy in bulk of 10-12 units because we are very affordable compared to other countries,” she said. PropertyAccess Philippines was founded in 2018 by two real estate moguls: Hiroki Kazato, the chief executive officer, and Baylon, the chief revenue and partnership officer. Kazato is a widely recognized expert in real estate trading and distribution. In 2010, he founded his own company, Real Estate Intermediary Transparency Forum Co., Ltd. which he soon sold to Sony Group and helped establish Sony Real Estate Co., Ltd. where he served as an executive.